Echoes of the Past
by jaderaid
Summary: Missiles and Magic III. Gaheris Rhade comes to terms with the fact that he is yet again alive, and explores feelings for Trance. Beka and Telemachus discover more than they ever dreamed, and a child reveals a piece of the crew's destiny...
1. The Ghost of Gaheris Rhade

**Author's Note:** Does anybody read these? Oh well, if you are this is a sequel to 'Omega Blue' because I finally got off my lazy ass and typed it. READ OMEGA BLUE FIRST OR YOU WILL BE** CONFUSED AS HELL!!! **(Aka, my general state of life!) :P Ok, ummm... I ran out of things to put in my Author's Note, so I guess I'll do a short recap of 'Omega Blue.' Basically the crew meets this Nietzschean girl named Liara who is infected by a terrible bio-weapon called 'Omega Blue.' They go to the Hashae Nebula (that's important, remember it!), which is where the research base for the bio-weapon is located, the entire crew is infected and Rhade is captured by Pish. After putting up a fight, Telemachus succumbs to the indoctrination. When he's back on board Andromeda we learn that Liara is actually Terla (read my first fic, 'Illusions'). Make a long story short: Terla sets Rhade free to go 'complete his mission,' he goes to the Slipstream Core and starts piloting back toward the Hashae Nebula. Terla casts a spell enabling her to teleport to the Slipstream Core after confessing to Dylan and promising to 'make things right.' We see Telemachus approached by a ghostly figure: Gaheris Rhade, who cures Telemachus of the indoctrination. Everyone assumes that it is Terla, but it turns out that it is the ghost of Gaheris Rhade on board Andromeda. We leave off with Gaheris sitting across from Dylan at the Go board. Ok, I'm finally done. That was longer than I expected! I will give one brief teaser for this story: Beka and Telemachus will begin to grow closer. YAY!

**Characters:** Beka, T. Rhade, Dylan, Harper, Trance, Andromeda, Rommie. Not planning on having any original characters w/ big parts, but I don't really know at this point!

**Rating:** Beats me! Probably PG-13 for adult situations, swearing uhhhh... probably violence, too.

**Disclaimer:** Andromeda doesn't belong to me, blah, blah, blah. Despite all my efforts I have NOT been able to purchase Telemachus on E-bay, so technically he doesn't belong to me either! (yet!) I'd share, don't worry! (maybe!)

Now, finally on to the story!

* * *

Meg Jordan

'Echoes of the Past' If you are the type of person 

_Who believes in ghosts like I do, _

_and ever meet one,_

_Remember:_

_They were people once, too._

Man-Sha-Wan, Wayist

Chapter 1

"You seem somewhat surprised, Dylan," Gaheris said, crossing his legs and leaning back in the chair.

Dylan stuttered over a few words, then settled for: "How?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Gaheris responded. "You shot me, I died. Normally that's the end of the story. However, when I died I saw Trance. The gold one, not the purple one. She smiled, and I felt myself floating in a void. Then Trance silently exploded into yellow-gold light, engulfing me. I found myself floating above my own body on the Command Deck. It took some getting used to," Gaheris smiled wryly. "But I soon found that Trance had given me a blessing in disguise. I watched everything you did different from I. It was... educating.

"You've been aboard this ship for four years now," Dylan accused. "Why didn't you show yourself before?"

"I couldn't," Gaheris countered. "I have only been visible for about a week now." He made a teepee out of his fingers and touched his lips thoughtfully. "It was like... I was locked in a cage until a pulse of energy set me free."

"Terla's magic," Dylan reasoned. "Somehow whatever she did made you audible and visible."

"It would appear that way," Gaheris agreed. "You seem to be taking this rather well," he noted.

Dylan shook his head ruefully. "After all I've been through on this ship, I'm hardly surprised."

Gaheris looked at him, brown eyes thoughtful. "SO what do you plan to do with me?"

"That's a good question," Dylan said, leaning forward. "What are _you_ planning to do, Mr. Rhade?"

"Stick around," Gaheris said immediately.

"One more question," Dylan said. "How did you cure Telemachus?"

"I... don't know," Gaheris said. "I had a feeling and acted upon it. It worked, then?"

"Apparently," Dylan said. "Let's go down to the Med Bay and check."

-----

"You want some coffee?" Beka asked. She was sitting in a chair next to Telemachus, who was lying on one of the beds in the Med Deck.

"Hm?" Telemachus looked up. "Sorry, I wasn't listening."

"Do you want some coffee?" Beka asked again. "I'm gonna get something to eat. Want anything?"

"Coffee will be fine." The Nietzschean male frowned as Beka left to go to the auto-chef. His ancestor, Gaheris Rhade, on board the _Andromeda_? He smiled, trying to picture the crew's reactions. Harper would probably say something on the order of: "That sucks." Rommie and Andromeda both would probably hate Gaheris. Dylan would take it all in stride, Trance... well, Trance just mystified him on a daily basis.

Beka came back with a cup of steaming coffee and munching something.

Telemachus gratefully took the coffee. After taking a sip, just for the sake of conversation he asked; "What are you eating?"

"Chocolate, Old-Earth style," Beka responded.

Beka and Telemachus turned toward the door as it hissed open, announcing the arrival of Dylan... and Gaheris. Beka jumped and drew her force lance, pointing it at the ghost.

Gaheris looked at it. "If I were here to attack you, I doubt that would do any good," he said dryly, eyebrows raised. "It's good to see you too, Beka."

Beka reluctantly lowered her force lance, looking from Telemachus to Gaheris. "This is just plain weird," she said finally.

* * *

Author going for a soda break, I'll be back soon! Nope, no soda in the house. Have to settle for water. :(

* * *

"Rhade, do you think you're ready for active duty?" Dylan asked.

"Yes," said Telemachus.

"Ok, Telemachus, Beka: dismissed. Gaheris... stay here. Andromeda?" Dylan asked.

"Aye?" the hologram asked, appearing before Dylan and giving Gaheris the evil eye.

"Go get Trance," Dylan finished.

Beka and Telemachus exchanged glances and left.

"On second thought, Andromeda, send Trance to my quarters."

-------

"What's it like having your ancestor floating around?" Beka asked as she and Telemachus walked down a corridor.

Telemachus shook his head. "It isn't in my top five most expected events," he replied. "Even considering all the odd thing I've gone through on this ship."

Andromeda's hologram appeared in the middle of the hall. "Dylan wants you to report to Command," she said.

"Now?" Beka asked.

"No, tomorrow," Andromeda replied sarcastically, disappearing.

"Whoever decided that sarcasm was an admirable trait in a warship was sadly mistaken," Telemachus observed.

"I heard that," came Andromeda's voice.

Beka laughed and turned toward Command.

------

"So, what do I do with you, Gaheris?" Dylan asked. He Trance, and Gaheris were in his quarters. "How do I know I can trust you?"

"I already told you everything that happened," Trance interjected. "What more do you need?"

Dylan gave Trance the look that said, 'bullshit.'

"I'll leave if you want me too," Gaheris said calmly, hands behind his back.

"Where would you go?" Trance countered. She turned toward Dylan. "Dylan, he is not the Nietzschean you remember."

"Will this make a perfect possible future?" Dylan asked bitterly.

"I don't know," Trance said evenly. "But I think it's a small step toward one. As always, however, the final decision is up to you. Choose wisely." (A/N: I HAD to put the Indiana Jones line in!)

Dylan exhaled heavily. "Stay," he told Gaheris. "You've been here almost four years, you might as well stay."

Trance smiled. Everything was turning out the way it was supposed to...

A/N: Whew, LONG chapter! Send me reviews!!! PLEASE!!!


	2. PSB's can go into Slipstream? Oh, SHIT!

Reviews:

Prin69: WHOO-HOO! Part of the reason I updated so fast was because I couldn't wait to read your funny reviews! :P yeah, I did read it. It's so very sad. :( _Hear that, magpie dreamer? UPDATE SOON!_ Review again!

Vampiregirl081: I love Gaheris! Ok, I have to tell you this story from school. I was sitting at break trying to figure out my algebra homework when everyone stopped talking suddenly in one of those weird silences that happens every once in a while, and the whole room was quiet. I dunno why, but I have this phobia against silence, so I just yell REALLY loud: "I LOVE GAHERIS!!!!!" The peeps I got to watch _Andromeda_ laughed (I have to tell you my tale of conversion some other time!) and other people stared, so I used the Forrest Gump line: "And that's all I have to say about that." :P And it's all true! Really! If you ever chat with DaNcInG PrInCeSs, ask her! (She drops by on every so often!)

Jamieson Z: is that where it came from? I KNEW I couldn't come up with that all by myself, and it was REALLY bugging me that I couldn't remember! Thanx! I tried to update ASAP... and I did it! I'm so proud of me! I'm so glad you like it!

Iara: I don't mean to sound like a bitch, but you always say the same things in your reviews! Tell me about yourself; you've reviewed since 'Illusions' and have never told me anything about your bad day, or your bad week, or if you're like me, your bad year... talk to me! :_blinks innocently_: Please?

Oenone: I have that all planned out, and it hurt my head too. :P omg, I am _such_ a sped. (for those of you who don't know what a sped is it's someone who takes special education because they are not smart) I had to read your review twice because I got confused. I was going "but they're _both_ hot..." before I finally got it! :_puts head in hands_: after typing all this I'm allowed to act like a sped!! :P when are you going to update your fanfic? I don't like being in suspense and it's been so long now that I can't even remember what it's about!

Dancing Queen: :_Jade gives Dancing Queen a hug_: You're back! I was afraid you got tired of me and stopped reviewing! I even accused Samantha (DaNcInG PrInCeSs) if she was you because she goes under different screen names a lot and makes me look stupid because I reply to them! Where you able to find 'Illusions'? What did you think? I'm sooooo glad you're back!

**A/N just to clear up some confusion**: _Andromeda_ hasn't exited Slipstream since Telemachus first put them in it back when he took over the Slipstream Core, blah, blah, blah. Karaki is the woman who was in Command and had to take over Slip piloting when Telemachus was fixed. OK, on to:

Chapter 2

"You'll forgive me if I don't salute," Karaki said, eyes watching the Slipstream and piloting carefully. "But I'm rather busy."

"We are almost there," Andromeda's viewscreen added.

"Where?" Telemachus asked, taking up his customary post at the weapons control station.

"Hashae Nebula," Karaki replied shortly. "I hate Slipstream."

"Why are we going there?" Telemachus asked, looking puzzled. "Isn't that where the Omega Blue research station is?"

"You set the coordinates, sir," Karaki said.

Telemachus's lips formed a thin line. "Ah."

"Transiting to normal space," Andromeda's viewscreen said. There was a lurch as the ship exited Slipstream. "Incoming missile," Andromeda said.

"Turn us around!" Beka ordered. "I don't care where we end up, just get us the hell outta here!"

Karaki flipped the _Andromeda_ 180 degrees and opened a Slip portal, jumping in.

"Why are we running?" Telemachus demanded.

"Did you see what they fired?" Beka countered.

"No, I didn't," Telemachus retorted.

"Point Singularity Bomb," Beka responded.

Telemachus's eyes widened and he gripped the sides of his console. "Oh, sh-"

_Andromeda_ shuddered, and the Slipstream began wavering and... _disintegrating_?!?

"Holy fucking mother of the fucking Divine!" Karaki yelled. "What the fuck is fucking happening!?!"

"PSB on steroids?" Beka responded tersely, holding tight to her console.

_Andromeda_ bounced wildly off what remained of the Slip tunnel, accompanied by alarms and sirens ringing through the halls.

Telemachus's attention was attracted by something on his console. He tapped it and blanched. "Beka..." he said slowly. "Tell me that PSB isn't _following_ us through Slipstream."

"That's impossible," Beka said, scanning her own console.

"Better believe it," Karaki responded grimly. "And it's catching up."

"Gimme the Slipstream controls," Beka ordered. "Now!"

"Gladly," Karaki said with some relief as she handed the controls to Beka.

_Andromeda_ rode the wave created by the approaching PSB warping the quantum strings.

"It's catching up," Telemachus announced tersely. "Five light seconds until impact. Four. Three. Two. One-"

A huge explosion tore through _Andromeda_, throwing them out of Slipstream and catapulting Beka over the piloting station to land headfirst on the deck.

Telemachus was hurled back from the weapons control station to impact against the wall. Something _cracked_ in his lower back, and he collapsed into unconsciousness as numbness swept through his legs.

Karaki flew straight forward to hit the viewscreen in front of her. The last thing he saw was everyone who had been in Command lying on the deck, some in growing pools of blood. Something imploded in her head, and her last memory was of a white explosion on a black background.

"Code Blue." Andromeda's voice echoed through the corridors. "Officers down in Command. Code Blue. Code Blue..."

-----

Trance's breath caught in her throat suddenly. "Gaheris, go to the Slipstream Core!' she ordered frantically. "Dylan, send Beka and Rhade to Command!"

Gaheris left without question. Two years of serving with her added to four more years of watching had taught him not to ask.

Dylan, however, raised an eyebrow. "Why?" he asked after he ordered Andromeda to tell Beka and Telemachus to report to Command.

"I can't tell you that," Trance replied evenly. "But lives will be saved."

"Trance-" Dylan was interrupted by _Andromeda_ jumping out of Slipstream then almost immediately back in. "Like I was saying-"

_Andromeda_ shuddered and shook violently.

"What the hell is going on?" Dylan demanded, picking himself off the floor where he had been thrown. Sparks issued from the wall behind him.

"The Collectors fired a Point Singularity Bomb," Andromeda's hologram said calmly, appearing before Dylan. She paused as new data came in. "And it's _following _us through Slipstream."

Dylan paled. "Oh, _shit_."

-----

"Damn, Rhade, you sure did a job on these doors," Harper muttered to himself, nano-welder in one hand and Sparky Cola in the other. He slipped his goggles back over his eyes and readied the nano-welder for another pass. He completely ignored Andromeda jumping out of Slipstream, then immediately back in. What Harper _couldn't_ ignore was _Andromeda_ shuddering and shaking, which resulted in him being tossed into the opposite wall. Harper's first thought was: _What the hell?_ His second was that he was luck the nano-welder hadn't chopped off any of his fingers. The nano-welder was to his right, slowly burning a hole in the wall.

Harper expressed his first thought to the empty corridor. "Andromeda, what the hell is going on?"

"We have a PSB following us through Slipstream," Andromeda's hologram responded. "And it's gaining."

"Oh, _FUC-_"Harper started as a giant explosion ripped through the ship, leaving a hole clear out to space where the Slipstream Core formerly was.

All the air began hissing out, sucking Harper out into space. Harper screamed as he was sucked out. At the last second a hand grabbed his.

"Hold on!" Gaheris yelled, his other hand tightly gripping the catwalk above. "I don't know if this will be permanent!"

"What?" Harper yelled back.

"I'll tell you later!" Gaheris shouted. His muscles strained as he began pulling Harper back in. "Kick the button on you left!"

"What?"

"HIT THE GODDAMN BUTTON!" Gaheris bellowed.

Harper looked around wildly, finally seeing the red button to his left on the wall. He kicked out... but missed, stubbing his toe on the wall.

"Hurry!" Gaheris yelled.

"No, ya _think_?" Harper retorted, kicking out again and finally hitting the button. A heavy bulkhead slammed down in front of the empty hole. Gaheris dropped Harper hard on the deck.

"How'd you do that?" Harper demanded as soon as he had caught his breath. "I thought you were a ghost!"

Gaheris shrugged helplessly. "I don't know."

Just on impulse, Harper reached out and touched Gaheris's hand, feeling warm flesh. When he poked his shoulder, however, Harper's hand went straight through.

Andromeda's voice echoed through the corridors. "Code Blue. Officers down in Command. Code Blue..."

"I want to talk to you later," Harper told Gaheris, pushing himself to his feet and starting to run down the corridor.

"But we have to get to Command," Gaheris finished, effortlessly running beside Harper though his feet made no sound against the metal catwalk.

A/N: Aren't I an evil person? Review even if you just want to yell at me for leaving you off there!


	3. Slipstream is so BORING!

Reviews: 

Oenone: ok! you updated! I happy! I read it but I'm REALLY busy so I can't review right now. :( see, I'm SUPPOSED to be working on my saint report (catholic confirmation: don't ask) so I really have to rush! I'll review as soon as I have less school work. HA-HA, Rommies! that's good! YUCK! STAR TREK IS BLEGH! and that's all I have to say about that! :P

Prin69: what world outside fanfic? :P jk, jk. huh? I don't get whatever you were trying to say with your whole 'Entire' thing, but that's ok, cause I'm easily confused! oh, a few of my friends from school that I told about your fanfic gave me a list of thing that you should do to that allison bitch: hang her in the machine shop by her thumbs and play really loud hip-hop with flashing strobe lights, use chinese water torture, have Rhade puke on her, Harper torture her with the nano-welder, starve her for a while and then force-feed her so she gets fat (or, as Emmy put it, becomes a lard-ass!), throw things at her, then when you are all done torturing her, stick her in an EVA suit and dangle her near a black hole, occasinally reeling her in just a little then letting her go again until we finally drop her in the black hole! A-MEN! thanks to Emmy and Sam for helping me with this! :_smiles innocently_: and that's all we have to say about that! :P

Jamieson Z: I was doing the same scene from everyone else's point of view, so bacically (aw, crap I did it again! I spelled basically wrong! AHHH!) the whole gaheris-trance-dylan thing took place before Beka and Telemachus got to command. yes, I know, confusing!

Mo Cat: HI, MO CAT!! sorry, just felt like yelling 'hi' at someone! I'm glad you think it's as good as the other ones! :) me happy!

vampiregirl081: ok, I hurried just for you! :P

Iara: ha-ha, GAHERIS! I love him! feel free to e-mail me (its at the bottom of my bio. PLEASE follow the rules I put next to it so mommy doesn't murder me!) Thanks!

Malgenan Princess: sam, I take that as an insult! :P

DancingQueen: Don't you just LOVE him? grr, but that louisa...

midknight-kat01: :P I'm such an evil person to the crew!

A/N: ok, I decided I'm going to have a little contest: see if you can guess the mystery pairing I'm going to have. I'll have two clues each chapter, and whoever guesses right will get something special... :)

1st clue: I DON'T LIKE SLASH! so it will be between a dude and a chic!

Chapter 3 

Telemachus woke in the Med Bay. Again. He groaned loudly, feeling a sharp pain in his lower back.

"It's just the nano-bots repairing the damage to your spine," Trance said, walking over to him. "You're lucky; if you hadn't been on Andromeda where I could fix you, you could have been paralyzed for life."

"Beka?" Telemachus asked, accepting a glass of water from the gold alien.

"She'll be fine," Trance responded, smiling. "But she'll have a terrible headache when she wakes up."

"Tell me about it," groaned a voice as Beka sat up. "What happened?"

"The PSB blew out our Slipstream Core," Harper said, walking over to Beka. "Literally, the drive is _gone_."

"Dylan wants you and Telemachus to take the Maru," Gaheris added from where he was overseeing one of the patients.

"Soon," Dylan added, walking into the Med Bay, a massive burn across his face. "I don't like being dead in the water like this."

Rommie followed soon after. "Dylan, I have the casualty reports; forty-seven, dead, including Lieutenant Karaki. One hundred and fifty-two wounded, twenty-eight of which are in critical condit-"

Dylan held up a hand, expression of pain flashing across his face. "Later," he told her. "I don't want to deal with that now."

--------

Gaheris stood in front of Trance as the latter was tending to one of her patients.

"Trance, am I becoming material?" the Nietzschean asked. "I was able to grab Harper."

"I honestly don't know," Trance responded, running a scanner over the unconscious Than.

"But you have a theory," Gaheris countered, handing her an injector, with which Trance gave a shot to the Than.

"When Terla introduced her magic to this universe, it made you visible," Trance stated, moving onto the next patient. "Most likely her magic disrupted the delicate balance between life and death that you were formally inhabiting."

"I'm being returned to life," Gaheris said slowly, looking at Trance.

She turned away from his penetrating eyes. "It's just a guess, though," she added, shrugging one shoulder.

Realizing he would get no further answers from her, Gaheris turned to leave.

--------

Telemachus limped into the _Maru_ to find Beka already in the pilot's chair, readying it for takeoff.

"Took you long enough," Beka said, turning around and noticing that Telemachus was leaning on a console to support himself. "Hey. You alright?"

Telemachus straitened with a grimace. "I should be fully recovered by the time we reach the drift."

"_Maru_, you are cleared for departure," Andromeda announced. "Hurry back."

"As soon as I can," Beka responded, hitting the _Maru's_ thrusters and roaring out into space, jumping into Slipstream.

"So, what roiling cesspool of thievery and corruption are we heading to this time?" Telemachus asked as Beka piloted.

"Pierpont Drift," Beka replied. "What do you have against drifts, anyway?"

Telemachus grimaced. "Long story," he said. "How long will it take to reach the drift?"

"'Bout three days," Beka said, glancing back. "And, uh... lose the academy pinhead look, would ya?"

"We're back to calling me an 'academy pinhead'?" Telemachus asked, raising an eyebrow. "Alright, I'll go change."

------ _(A/N: I've been looking for an excuse to make Rhade dress up like Season 5, and I finally got one! HOORAY!)_

Beka landed the _Maru_ on Pierpont, listening to the _hiss_ of cooling machinery.

"We're finally there?" Telemachus asked, walking toward the cockpit. He had spent most of the time they were in Slipstream sleeping, trying to accelerate the healing of his back. When he was awake, most of the time Beka was asleep, getting ready for the next amount of time in Slipstream. Thinking back, Telemachus couldn't remember a time when he was more _bored_ ever in his life.

"Yeah, we're..." Beka trailed off, turning around as Telemachus ducked into the cockpit. She could feel her heart beating faster, and she had to remind herself to breathe.

Telemachus was wearing tight brown leather pants and a dark gray skin-tight shirt. He had traded in his force lance for a Gauss gun in a holster slung low around his waist. He had let his neatly trimmed goatee grow into a beard that framed his cheeks, and he had also let his hair grow into a brown mop on his head. He had slipped brown leather gauntlets that matched his pants over his bone blades. Telemachus looked every inch a Nietzschean pirate.

"Yeah, yeah, we're there," Beka said, turning away realizing she had been staring. She felt a slight blush rise into her cheeks as she knew he had noticed her staring, as well.

"Did I loose the 'pinhead' look?" Telemachus asked, barely contained amusement evident in his tone.

Beka made a face as she pushed past him, shaking her head to make her hair chestnut brown with blonde highlights. "Let me just get some make up so I don't look like Beka Valentine," she said, opening a drawer in the wall.

"So, what is your natural hair color?" Telemachus asked, following her and leaning against the wall behind her.

"I can't tell you that," she replied, pushing aside different bottles in her search for make up.

"Why not?"

"Look, if I never told _Harper_, I'm not telling you," Beka said somewhat sharply, applying sparkly ruby-red eyeliner to her lids.

Telemachus changed the subject. He might not know much about human women, but he knew when to not push a topic. "You never wear make up," he stated. He motioned to the drawer. "Where'd all this come from?"

"Trance," Beka responded absently, applying purple mascara.

Telemachus's confusion doubled. "Trance?!?"

"Back when she was still purple," Beka said understanding Telemachus's confusion. She quickly dabbed red sparkles around her face, then standing, said: "Let's go."

"Wait," Telemachus said, stopping her by putting a hand on her arm. "What am I going to call you while we are there?"

"Uh, Bek-" she started, then understood what he meant. "Well, we can't be known as Beka Valentine and Telemachus Rhade," she said, thinking.

"Telcontar Alkatran and Kara Nul," Telemachus supplied. He smiled mischievously. "I also have a cover story."

---------

"Names?" a bored Perseid customs officer asked. He looked up at the Nietzschean and human.

"Telcontar Alkatran," Telemachus replied.

The Perseid jabbed his pointer at Beka. "And she is?"

"Slaves do not require names," Telemachus said haughtily, stroking Beka's arm.

Beka quickly adapted to the unexpected part, leaning against Telemachus and smiling sweetly at the Perseid. "If you think you can match what he paid for me..." she hinted, batting her eyelashes.

The Perseid muttered "Nietzscheans," under his breath in a tone of disgust. "Enjoy your stay on Pierpont Drift," he announced with a fake smile, waving them through.

"Slave?" Beka demanded in a harsh whisper.

"It worked, didn't it?" Telemachus said, threading his way through the crowded streets.

A female Nietzschean teenager stepped in front of them.

"We don't have time for alms, kid," Beka said, walking past her.

"I don't your money," the girl said, in a tone of voice Beka knew all too well. Her face briefly changed color, taking on a dark gray tone before morphing back again.

"Terla?" Telemachus asked incredulously.

"No, the elf-prince of Shilmista," she retorted, smiling. "Yeah, it's me."

"We need a new Slip drive," Beka said. "Know where we can get one?"

Terla smiled. "Come to my office," she said, motioning with her hands for them to follow her.

A/N: 2nd clue: it isn't the obvious Beka/Telemachus! HA-HA! ok, I'll be giving out free characters for my next fanfic, that I think will be called "Slipfighter Chronicles." If you want a character, it will be either a crewmember on the shuttle (three open slots) or one of the Slipfighter pilots (BIG cool part!). make sure you give me your character's name, race, and call-sign. (eg, a name used on the radio that pertains to your character.) ok, I all done now!


	4. All you Nietzscheans are all the same!

Reviews:

Miikka: I am sooo sorry I didn't get back to you! SORRY, SORRY! I know what you mean; I love both Rhade's. When I finally find Rhade on E-bay, however shall I choose? :P

Prin69: how was my rhade evil? shows how much I know about my story: I had to go back and read chap2 to figure out what you were refering to! the whole nietzschean/slave thing, right? he-he, I had FUN with that, and also with figuring out really cool make up for Beka! Emmy says she's happy you liked her part about force-feeding Allison. LOL! PLEASE have a dream scene with that! that'd be AWESOME!

vampiregirl081: thanx! I feel so special :)

eris: SEASON 5 RHADE! YAY! ok, don't get me started. :P Ha-ha, double the Rhade... DOUBLE THE FUN! :D

Chapter 4

"So, how did you break your Slipstream drive?" Terla asked, motioning for them to sit on one of the beds on the _Dusky Rose_, the ship she had been forced to use on her undercover mission for the Collectors. The _Rose_'s AI appeared on one of the viewscreens next to them, looking interested.

With some input from Telemachus, Beka explained everything that had happened on the _Andromeda_ starting from when they exited Slipstream.

"The Collectors have PSBs," Terla said unbelievingly.

"Not only that, but they have found a way for it to follow us through Slipstream," Telemachus added.

"That is interesting news," _Rose_ said. "There are some parties who will be _very_ interested in that."

Terla was thinking. "The _Andromeda_ has a Slip drive typical for a starship of her class, correct?"

"Yes," Beka said.

"I can get a hot one by the end of the week," Terla said.

Telemachus raised an eyebrow. "'Hot'?"

"Stolen," Beka said. She looked at Terla. "And how long would it take legally?"

Terla grimaced. "A month. Maybe less if you're lucky."

Beka mirrored the expression on Terla's face. "How much do you want for it?"

"40,000 thrones," _Rose_ announced.

"Twenty-five," Beka countered.

"Thirty," Terla said with a tone of finality. "Take it or leave it."

"Done," Beka said, shaking Terla's hand. "And there will be no way to trace the stolen drive to us."

"Deal," Terla smiled and led them to the airlock.

"Whatever you do, _don't_ double-cross us," Telemachus warned.

"Who, me?" Terla asked in her cute-innocent-little-girl Liara voice. "Don't worry; I owe you people my life. Life-debts mean a lot where I come from," she added seriously. "I can't betray you again until the debt is paid."

"You sound like you can't wait for that day to come," Telemachus pointed out.

Terla made a face. "I didn't mean it that way," she said. "Life-debts are heavy burdens; you wouldn't understand." The shapeshifter opened the airlock onto the busy, bustling street. "When I acquire the drive, I'll find you," she said, closing the airlock behind them.

----------

"-and we should be back in about a week. See you then." Beka finished recording a message for the _Andromeda_. She shut off the recorder.

"Message will reach the A_ndromeda_ in three days," the _Maru_'s male voice said.

Beka turned in her chair to face Telemachus.

"So, what do we do for a week while we wait for our Slipstream drive?" Telemachus asked, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms.

"I'm sure you'll think of something," Beka said, moving past him to check on a monitor.

_Several_, thought Telemachus, watching Beka from behind. _None of which have any hope of happening_.

"I'm sure you can find something to do using your Nietzschean imagination," Beka continued, slamming shut a drawer.

Telemachus started guiltily like a little boy caught at some prank before he realized Beka hadn't actually read his mind. "You can't judge all Nietzscheans based solely on your experiences with Tyr," Telemachus said. He had tried telling her this once before, but he might as well try again.

"I'm not," Beka replied, just as she had before.

"Then don't judge _me_ based on your experiences with other Nietzscheans," Telemachus countered.

"Why?" Beka openly confronted him. "All you Nietzscheans are genetically engineered to be selfish, self-serving bastards. What makes you any different? I know there is something you want from us on _Andromeda_; what is it?"

Telemachus sighed. "All Nietzscheans are not the same, Beka." He ran a hand through his thick brown hair. "Why am I even bothering?" he asked, more to himself than to Beka. He sighed, a short, angry exhalation and turned and walked back down the catwalk.

Beka satisfied that she had made her point, started to turn back to the monitor, but found herself distracted.

_Beka!_ she ordered. _Stop staring at Rhade's ass!  
_

_But it looks so _good_ in the leather_, the little evil voice in her head whispered.

_No! He's a Nietzschean! Shut up!_

_And those biceps... _the voice continued.

_No! Stop it!_ Beka shook her head. _Stop thinking that!_ Ah, hell. She didn't have anything else to do on the _Maru_ anyway.

"Hey, Rhade," she found herself calling. "Let's go. I'll let you buy me a drink."


	5. So, how DID the PSB go into Slipstream?

Oenone: PIRATE RHADE! I HAD to find an excuse to make him look like that, and that was the best I could come up with! :P Grr, you updated again and I don't have time to read it! GRR!

Prin69: Thanks! Ha-ha, conversations in people's heads... its too bad they can't do that in the episodes. :(

vampiregirl081: oh, THANKS! :_Jade gives vampiregirl081 a hug_: keep reviewing every chapter!

Jamieson Z: LOL! :P Beka slave... now that was FUN for me to write!

eris: oh, yeah! I mostly based Beka's evil voice off, well... me. :P See, me and Samantha (DaNcInG PrInCeSs) worked on it at school together, with me being the evil voice and sammy being the Beka voice. DON'T SHOOT ME WHEN YOU READ THIS, SAMANTHA! ('cause samantha still firmly deies that she likes Rhade, but I know differently...)

Mo Cat: Thanks for waiting! review again!

Iara: I sent you an e-mail, and I'm sorry if I was asking a lot of questions but I'm a very curious person! you don't have to answer all of them! Oh, and about your character... could you give me a Pride for her? Or a planet. you don't need to do both, but I would REALLY like a Pride to go off of. Thanks!

Chritieanne-Anna: did I spell your name right? I'm too lazy to go back and check. Thanks!

Miikka: Oh, yeah! VOICES IN HEAD! :P

randomidiot: HI, CASEY!! (sorry, I know her from school!)

**A/N: I'VE NEVER SEEN 'THE UNCONQUERABLE MAN' SO IF SOMEONE COULD E-MAIL ME A COMPLETE SUMMARY THAT'S BETTER THAN THE ONE ON THE OFFICIAL WEBBY I WILL BE A VERY HAPPY PERSON!** Thanks! Oh, and I couldn't think of a prize to give all y'all who guessed right, so I kinda lied when I said you'd get something special! :_winces_: SORRY! But everyone who has guessed has guessed right, so shows you just how obvious I am! :( **LAST CHANCE FOR AN ORIGINAL CHARACTER!** I decided to mesh Slipfighter Chronicles w/ Echoes of the Past, and I'm going to be writing that chapter soon (in my notebook), so if you guys don't give me original characters... well, lets just say I'll have to come up with the WHOLE SQUADRON on my own! :( Sorry 'bout the short chapter.

Chapter 5

Harper was upside-down in a service conduct, rewiring something with a flexi in his hand.

"What are you doing?" asked a voice.

Harper, startled, picked up his head too fast and banged it off the top. "Ow!" he exclaimed. "Gaheris, you scared me."

Gaheris shrugged. "You said you wanted to talk to me earlier. I assume now wouldn't be a good time?"

"No, now is fine," Harper said, sitting up and putting down the flexi. "So, what's the verdict? Are you becoming huma- ah, _Nietzschean_ again?"

"Trance says she doesn't know," Gaheris said. "But I think she knows more than she's telling."

"That's our Trance, alright," Harper said, smiling. "Was she less mysterious when you knew her?"

Gaheris thought back. "No," he finally decided. "Just as mysterious as she is now."

"So, what was my alternate-universe self like?" Harper asked curiously.

"Loud, obnoxious, annoying," Gaheris smiled. "Exactly like you are now."

Harper smirked and was about to make a smart remark when Rommie poked her head into the conduct. "Harper, Dylan wants to see you."

"Why?" Harper asked.

Rommie shrugged. "It probably has something to do with the fact that a Point Singularity Bomb followed us through Slipstream." She looked at Gaheris, who straightened and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Did Dylan say if he wants me to do anything?" Gaheris asked.

"No, he didn't," Rommie said sharply, leaving.

Gaheris sighed, shoulders slumping. He should have expected the avatar's disdain of him, but it still hurt.

"Yeah, guess I better, uh, go see Dylan," Harper said, leaving quickly after Rommie.

"Hey, Rom-doll, what did Gaheris do to you?" Harper demanded, catching up with her.

"He tried to kill Dylan," Rommie replied. "It's because of him the Commonwealth fell, and I'm supposed to _like_ him?"

"Lot's of people try to kill Dylan," Harper pointed out. "And if what Trance said is true, Gaheris let-himself-be-killed, Rommie. And he saved my life," Harper added, almost as an afterthought. "Not to mention Rhade's."

Rommie stopped and looked at the viewscreen to her right. "He has to prove his worth," Andromeda said, image appearing on the small viewscreen.

"And that we can trust him," the hologram added, appearing with her arms crossed in front of Harper.

Harper wasn't surprised that the three extensions of the Andromeda core AI were basically the same. What surprised him was the amount of negativity. "C'mon, Andromeda, Rommie," he addressed all three. "Give him a chance. He saved my life."

"That's what I-_we_- are doing," Andromeda's viewscreen said. "Giving him a chance." The viewscreen shut off.

"He had better not waste it," the hologram added, disappearing.

Rommie looked at Harper. "You had better go see Dylan."

-------

Dylan was reading something on a flexi when Harper walked in, visibly exited to have a new project to work on.

Dylan cut to the chase. "How did the PSB follow us through Slipstream, Mr. Harper? And how did it _only_ target our Slip drive?"

Harper literally bounced from foot to foot. "You know the heat-seeking missiles we used to use on Earth?"

"Of course."

"Well, the Collectors could probably find a way for the PSB to home in on our AP emissions, guiding it straight to our Slip drive," Harper said triumphantly.

"But that doesn't explain _how_ it went through Slipstream," Dylan interjected.

"Tracking device!" Harper exclaimed. "Or maybe a slave system..." he trailed off, thinking.

"Mr. Harper?" Dylan prompted after a few minutes had gone by.

The engineer snapped back to himself. "Yeah, a slave system, so however we piloted it would follow us and make the same course adjustments."

"How did they attach all that to a PSB in the first place?" Dylan asked.

Harper shrugged. "No idea!" he said happily. "But I could probably replicate the system the Collectors used and, I dunno, maybe do the same thing with a kinetic missile?" He squirmed hopefully. "Please, boss? I can't fix the Slip drive until we get a new one, so I'm basically at a standstill."

"Alright," Dylan gave in.

"Thanks boss!" Harper shouted over his shoulder as he started running for the Machine Shop.

A/N: Yeah, I know, short chapter. SORRY! I already have chapter 6 all written out, and I'm gonna try to upload it tomorrow. Chap6 will be LONG! See y'all tomorrow! BUBS!


	6. Chapter 6 v2

Reviews:

Prin69: I sorry!! Telemachus will not be in the next 2 chapters because everyone hated chapter 6! I PROMISE he will be in chapter 8, though, because I already have that typed, and it should be uploaded by this afternoon! DON'T HURT ME!! I REALLY was planning on him being in the next chapter, but then I had to redo chap6, so, I SORRY!

Jamieson Z: yes, it did go fast, so that's why I wrote this. ENJOY!

Oenone: I only found out recently that Beka and Gaheris were togher in the Unconquerable Man, so that's why there was no tension. ok, I think I got your character right. Cynthia Valerie, human (Earth)- Oenone (?) that's how you want it? cause this is really the last chance to change it.

vampiregirl081: there'll be more this afternoon!

eris: as you can probably tell, I've got my hands full w/ Beka/Rhade and Trance/Rhade, so probably nothing w/ Dylan!

Iara: like I said in the e-mail: new chappie!

DancingQueen: HA! I walk into things a lot, too! Rhade Rhade Rhade!! I love him too! sounds rather reminiscent of my romance life, too! :P

Christieanne-Anna: I think this chappie will help explain this.

A/N: a lot of people thought I went too fast w/ Gaheris/Trance, so this chappie will replace the other chapter, which is now chapter 7. I worked very, very hard on this because I hate it when people don't like what I do. :( I got over it, though, and wrote this. enjoy, all you evil, mean people!

Chapter 6 (v2.0)

Gaheris walked out of the service conduct, thinking. What would it be like to be alive again? How would he be able to remain on board _Andromeda_ if everyone hated him? He had no rank, no position, and few allies. Deep in thought, Gaheris paid no attention to the wall in front of him, planning on walking through it like he usually did. Next thing he knew he was sitting on the floor with a feeling he hadn't felt for four years. Pain.

"Rhade, what are you doing?" Andromeda asked, hologram appearing behind him. "My walls are solid."

"But _I'm_ usually not," Gaheris murmured, looking at the wall with a look of dumb wonder on his face. He placed his hand against the wall and pushed hard. His hand remained flat against the wall, not going through.

"You are alive now," Andromeda stated, crossing her arms over her chest. "What are you going to do with your new life?"

Gaheris stood up and faced the hologram. "Between you and me," he said. "I have no idea. I can't be First Officer again, obviously. Beka holds that position. Only a handful of people know I'm here, and I find it hard to believe that Dylan would announce over the ship-wide that Gaheris Rhade has returned to be once again amongst the living." He sighed. "I really don't know what to do."

Andromeda's brown eyes watched him thoughtfully, not judgingly. "If there was one thing Gaheris prided himself on, it was his ability to read eyes and facial expressions. He was almost certain he saw a hint of something- pity?- in her eyes. "Perhaps I have misjudged you," she admitted. "I may come to regret this later, but unless you do something stupid, I'm on your side."

Gaheris blinked in surprise. "Are you saying you trust me?"

"No," Andromeda said bluntly. "But I don't _not_ trust you, either. Your own actions will determine whether or not you can be trusted. I will tell you what a small step toward regaining my full trust is, however."

"That being?"

"Stop calling me 'Ship'," she said. "I have a name."

Gaheris frowned and nodded. It went against everything Nietzschean to think of a ship as a person, but he needed all the allies, and yes, _friends_ that he could get. "Very well, Andromeda," he smiled wryly. "It's good to serve with you again."

Andromeda smiled. "I'll see what I can manage with Dylan," she said, and then disappeared.

With one more friend on his side, Gaheris turned and walked down the corridor, and his polished black boots rang off the metal grating. It was a sound Gaheris had not planned on hearing again.

Harper was running full speed down the hall and smacked straight into Gaheris. "Ow!" he exclaimed, falling backwards on his butt. He looked up at Gaheris, who hadn't budged an inch from the impact. "Hey, I didn't go through you," he noticed. "Huh?"

Gaheris laughed and extended his hand to help Harper to his feet. "I am alive again," he told Harper.

"Wow," Harper breathed, taking the offered hand and noticing an ugly looking black scar on his hand. "What happened?" he asked, pointing.

Gaheris looked at it and grimaced. "Echoes of the past I'd rather forget," he said softly.

Harper hesitated then patted Gaheris's shoulder. "Do ya wanna help me with my new project?" he asked awkwardly, feeling sorry for the Nietzschean who was so obviously out of place.

Gaheris smiled down at him. "Thank you, Harper, but no." He appreciated Harper's concern, but the Machine Shop wasn't on of his favorite places. "I'll go get something to eat."

"Okay," Harper said. "But if you need someone to talk to..."

"Nosy," Gaheris accused Harper, grinning.

Harper smirked and continued walking down the corridor.

-------------

Gaheris sat in the Mess Hall, pushing around lumps of meat with his fork. The Mess Hall was empty, and if Gaheris closed his eyes he could still picture the old crew bustling about, their voices filling the air. Because of him the old crew had abandoned ship, and now his name was hated throughout the entire new Commonwealth.

Gaheris opened his eyes and sighed, suddenly feeling very alone. How could he ever fit in with the new crew? He was having trouble being accepted by the senior officers, and he _knew_ all of them. He spooned some stew into his mouth thoughtfully. _Stop with the self-pity, Gaheris_, he ordered himself. _It's a counter-productive emotion. Betraying the Commonwealth happened six years ago for you._ Gaheris decided to focus on enjoying his first meal in four years, closing his eyes and savoring the slightly spicy taste.

With that strange sixth sense Nietzscheans have, Gaheris knew someone else had entered the Mess Hall. He opened his eyes to see Trance sliding into the chair across the table from him. He nodded in greeting, pushing his empty bowl to the side.

"I was just wondering if you needed someone to talk to," Trance said, smiling slightly. "I know what it's like to know everyone on board ship with out being trusted."

Gaheris remembered back to when he was a ghost, observing Harper and Dylan's negative reactions to Trance when she had literally come back from the future. "Yes, I suppose you do," he agreed. They lapsed into silence. Gaheris was more perceptive then one would think of a Nietzschean, and he could tell Trance had something on her mind. "What is it?" he asked. "I can tell you want to say something, spit it out."

Trance was visibly uncomfortable. "You don't have to answer if it's too personal, but I was wondering," she hesitated. "Did I do the right thing? Holding you back from death and trapping you at the borderline between life and death?" She looked at him beseechingly. "You're the only one who can answer that for me. Was I wrong to disrupt the natural order of things?" She smiled resignedly. "I guess I'm asking you to be my conscience."

Gaheris grinned. "You want a Nietzschean to be your conscience?" He lifted his arm with bone blades extended to emphasize his point. His expression turned serious. "On the face of it, I want o immediately say 'yes, you did the right thing' because it saved my life. But when you factor in that I was _supposed_ to die for the greater good," that phrase almost stuck in his throat, but he pushed ahead. "And then factor in that people are not usually brought back from the dead..." he sighed, shaking his head. "There is one thing I learned while I was captain of the _Andromeda_ for two years: 'right' is not defined by logic." His deep brown eyes remained fixed on hers. "Do _you_ think you did the right thing?"

"I'd like to think so," Trance replied. "But my people... they were not pleased. I know have two scouts monitoring my actions, ensuring I do not do something my people would consider... foolish."

"Like what?" Gaheris had to ask.

"Like using my powers in an unconventional way again," Trance said. "My people... they do not want change. And then there are the stories..."

"What stories?" Gaheris questioned.

"Well, one of the first avatars to leave the Home-"

Gaheris raised a brow. "'Home'?"

"I can't tell you that," Trance responded. She started over again. "One of the first avatars to leave the Home to explore the larger universe, Celestial Taurus, fell in love with a human. Celestial had a daughter and a son, and she lived happily with her husband.

"When my people found out, they were furious and demanded Celestial stand Trial," he tone of voice indicating that 'Trial' was something more horrible than the name suggested. "When she refused," Trance continued. "My people grew even more outraged. They sent 'extermination teams' to kill her husband, kidnap Celestial and force her to watch as they severed her children's link with their suns and killed them." Her voice grew softer. "Celestial did not survive Trial."

Silence. Gaheris leaned across the table. "And you are afraid the same thing will happen to you?"

Trance nodded. "Does that seem silly?"

Gaheris thought about it. "It's been four years," he said. "And your people already confronted you. I would think if you were going to have to stand Trial," Trance winced, "they would have made you do it already."

"But they weren't planning on you returning to life," Trance noted.

"But my being returned to life was through no action of yours," Gaheris countered. "I don't see how they would blame that on you when you didn't have anything to do with it." He thought about the story she had told him, and suddenly thought he saw a hidden message. "Are you planning on having children with any humans?"

Trance flushed and stuttered, which was a very un-Trance-like thing.

Normally Gaheris would have thought the sight of a flustered Trance highly amusing, except that he felt like he had found something Trance would rather him not know. "Trance?" he asked slowly. "Why did you save me?"

Trance coughed, and said something Gaheris thought he'd never hear Trance say. "Uhhhhh..."

Gaheris got up to put his tray away. When he turned around, Trance was gone, and the door was hissing shut behind her.


	7. Gaheris and Trance

A/N: you're probably saying: "Huh? this looks like chapter 6." well, I replaced chapter 6 with a new version, I don't know if it came up yet.  I'm off school today, and when i wrote this i was functioning off of soda and chocolate, so PLEASE review!

Chapter 7

Gaheris stood in the Mess Hall as the door hissed shut. He waited, then went to follow her.

Andromeda's viewscreen came to life. "What are you doing?"

"I want to talk to Trance," Gaheris said, not stopping.

Andromeda's hologram appeared in front of him. "What if she doesn't want to talk to you?"

Gaheris walked through her, not pausing. "Then she can kick me out of her quarters."

"Rhade, don't bother her," her hologram requested. "She was almost crying when she left the Mess Hall, and she's engaged privacy mode in her quarters." Andromeda paused. "I've never seen Trance cry," she added softly.

Gaheris didn't hesitate. "If I said something to upset her, I have to take it back," he said.

Andromeda sighed and disappeared as Gaheris reached Trance's quarters. He hesitated then pushed the buzzer on Trance's door. "Trance, it's Gaheris," he said. "May I enter? I promised the shi- _Andromeda_- that if I hurt you in any way I'd let you kick me out."

A/N: I LOVE chocolate pretzels! ok, sorry, but I have off school toady and I'm home alone, so I get to eat chocolate pretzels for lunch! YUM!)

"All right," Trance responded. "Hold on." A pause, and then the door hissed open, revealing a calm and collected Trance- the opposite of what Gaheris had pictured from what Andromeda had said.

"I'm sorry for upsetting you earlier," Gaheris said. "I didn't mean to ask so many personal questions."

"It's alright," Trance said. "You deserve to know."

"Know what?"

"Why I did it," Trance said. She paused. "Do you want to come in?"

"Alright," Gaheris said, following her into her room.

"I'm sorry it's such a mess," Trance said. "I like to keep things where I can find them. There were flexis scattered across half the room and plants almost everywhere else. "You can sit on the bed."

Gaheris sat down, pulling her down to sit next to him.

"I didn't save you just because I would make a better future," she said softly. "Even though it probably will. Gaheris looked and saw tears in her eyes. "It was my way of making peace with myself for what I did."

"Whadda ya mean?" Gaheris asked, walking over and sitting next to her.

"I killed you," Trance choked out. "I loved you, and I had to kill you because it would make a better future."

Gaheris wrapped his arms around her. "You did what you had to, as did I," he said comfortingly. "It was my choice." _Trance loved him?!?_

"I sent you to your death, Trance sobbed, and her grief was even worse to see because to tears came from her eyes, just an expression of purest anguish. "And no one even knew you were really a hero and I couldn't defend you. And I knew that nothing could ever happen between us because you're a Nietzschean and I am an avatar, and-" she buried her face in Gaheris's shirt, dry sobs racking her body.

Gaheris was caught off guard by the display of emotion by the normally impassive Trance. He ran a hand through her red dreadlocks as he rocked he back and forth. "Shhh," Gaheris whispered, stroking her hair. "It's alright."

"No, it's not," Trance sobbed. "I can't be with you."

Gaheris gently lifted her chin. "Why not?"

"I told you what will happen," Trance said, brushing a hand over her eyes. "My people won't be happy."

For the first time, Gaheris noticed the subtle golden shimmer of her skin, the thin brow tattoos on her wrists, the shining luster of her eyes, so similar to his own. He stroked her face, and he felt a sudden rush of heat swell through his body. "I don't care," he whispered harshly, and he kissed her.

A tingle exploded through his body from head to toe, and he leaned deeper, gently forcing his tongue through her lips. Trance returned the kiss with passion equal to his own, forcing his tongue out of her mouth and into his, running her tongue along his teeth. She ran her fingers through his hair as Gaheris's hands roamed across her body, feeling every inch. Gaheris felt the warmth of her skin, so different from Nietzschean females.

Trance started to unbutton his red uniform jacket, and Gaheris kicked his boots off. The jacket was cast to the side as Gaheris broke the kiss to shrug off his blue turtleneck sweater, revealing a rippling array of muscles. Trance climbed on top of him, running her tongue across his face before kissing his lips again. Gaheris finally found the zipper on the back of Trance's brown leather jumpsuit, and she didn't protest when he peeled it off, throwing it to the side as Trance ran a hand along his six-pack. Her other hand reached playfully for his belt buckle as Gaheris rolled on top of her, nibbling gently on her face and neck...

-------

Much later, Gaheris held a sleeping Trance in his arms. He gently stroked her bare arm, marveling at the expression of peace on her face as she slept. Gaheris thought back to when he had been captain of the _Andromeda_, trying to figure out how he had ever gotten by without her. He heard a slight change in her breathing as Trance woke up. "Good morning," he said, smiling. "Go back to sleep. Your shift doesn't start for a couple hours yet."

Trance yawned contentedly. "I know something better than sleep," she said, rolling over and kissing his nose playfully.

Gaheris laughed as he held her, and they were quiet for a while. He felt himself slowly drifting off to sleep...

"What are we going to name him?"

Gaheris's eyes popped wide open. "What?!?"

"Our son," Trance replied patiently. "What will his name be?"

Gaheris blinked in surprise. "How do you know we have a son?"

"I'm the avatar of a sun, Gaheris," she responded. "I know lots of things."

Gaheris hugged her happily. "What names do you like?" he asked. He was going to have a family again! Okay, it wasn't your typical Nietzschean family, but it was better than none at all.

Trance was silent for such a long time that Gaheris thought she had fallen asleep again. "Veghn," she announced finally. "Veghn Rhade." She smiled. "Out of Trance, by Gaheris."

Gaheris had a sudden thought. "What color will he -Veghn- be?" he asked, remembering that Trance had been purple then turned gold. "Will he be purple?"

"No!" Trance gave him a weird look, then comprehension dawned. "Oh, that's right. Avatars are silver when they are first born, Gaheris," she explained. She smiled. "He'll look like you. Same face, hair..." she trailed off as if seeing something Gaheris didn't. "He'll look exactly like you, except silver and with a tail."

"I have a silver son with a tail," Gaheris repeated. He smiled. "I wonder what my wives would say." He felt a dim sadness when he thought of his wives. Most wouldn't expect a Nietzschean to feel grief for so long. (A/N: 6 years)

Trance lightly touched his shoulder. "Hey. You alright?"

Gaheris smiled, pushing away the thoughts he had been thinking. "The Nietzscheans have a saying," he said. "The past is past, the future yet to be, and the present, just that; a gift wrapped for us to enjoy."

Trance smiled. "Maybe being with a Nietzschean isn't so bad," she teased. "It will be a shock to my people," she added seriously. "They won't be happy."

"We'll deal with that obstacle when we reach it," Gaheris said.

----------------

A tall, blue and silver humanoid with pointed ears looked at her companion, an attractive green male.

"She must be controlled," the blue female announced, moving over to the silvery pilot's chair. Both she and her friend were in a new, shiny starship. They had been monitoring a small nebula, and had noticed the formation of a new star beginning.

"Naya," the green male said. "Naya, let her go. You can't change her."

Naya looked back at him. "Apollo, she's out of control," she hissed angrily.

"We must contain he before she lands us all in deep shit!"

Apollo sighed. "Alright," he gave in. "But we give her a chance to explain herself first."

Naya hesitated, then nodded. "But if she refuses..."

"Then we'll do what we must," Apollo said firmly. "In what location is her avatar?"

Naya looked down at the screen below her. "She is still at her last known location."

"Then she is still on board the Andromeda Ascendant," Apollo stated.

Naya nodded. "Entering Slipstream," she announced, pulling down the controls.

_Poor Trance,_ Apollo thought. _She has no idea..._


	8. Goddamn bounty hunters!

Prin69: the next 2 chapters are for you. enjoy!

Chapter 8

"It's not a date," Beka told herself as she lead Telemachus down from the 'civilized' areas of Pierpont to the places that the tourists never saw in the holo-brochures. "I will _not_ start a relationship with another Nietzschean. It's just two crew members stopping at a bar." That's what she kept telling herself. The long walk from the _Maru_ to the bar was giving her time to think. That's what she kept telling herself, that is. She couldn't stop thinking about him. _Alright, Beka. Let's start with character_, she thought. She frowned as the first thoughts came into her head. _Honorable, loyal, unselfish_... those would not describe a typical Nietzschean, but she knew it was true. _And he doesn't lose any points in looks, either_, she added to the mental tally. Sure, when he was all straight-laced and military in his High Guard uniform he didn't look as beefy as Tyr, but when you put him in a tight sleeveless shirt with just as tight leather pants... well, that's a whole 'nother story. Telemachus seemed more relaxed out of his uniform, less, well... academy pinhead.

Every time Beka tried to think of a bad point describing Telemachus Rhade, she kept drawing blanks. So far the only bad point was that he was Nietzschean like Tyr. Tyr, who had betrayed her and Dylan's trust more than once and gotten away with it. _He would never betray Dylan_, she thought. _Not of his own free will. Telemachus_- she stopped walking suddenly in horror. _I used his first name_, she thought, quickly starting to walk again so Telemachus wouldn't ask why she had stopped.

Thankfully interrupting her thoughts, Beka found the place she had been looking for. It wasn't very impressive; a small, squat square building from which loud music ensued. "This is the place," she said.

Telemachus nodded, moving to walk up next to her. "Nice place," he remarked dryly.

"Hey, I _lived_ in places like this before I joined the _Andromeda_," Beka told him.

Telemachus smirked as he looked at a wall. He pointed it out to Beka. "I'm worth more than you," he teased.

Beka turned and saw a wall covered in wanted holos. Prominent in the middle was Dylan, with other posters of the rest of the crew surrounding his. Below hers was a price of 800,000 thrones. Below Telemachus's was a price of 850,000 thrones.

"Yeah, but they spelled your name wrong," Beka pointed out. "Telekatemus Raday."

Telemachus laughed, then his demeanor turned serious. "Beka, we're being followed," he announced softly. "Three humans, four Nietzscheans, a Than, and two Nightsiders."

"Shit!" Beka snarled. "Follow me." She grabbed his arm and dragged him past the bar into the dark alley between it and the building to the right.

"Do you think they know who we are?" Telemachus asked.

"I don't plan on sticking around to find out," Beka responded, turning a corner. "Damn, dead end." She hit her palm against the wall.

"They're running now," Telemachus said, listening hard. There were quite a few advantages to being a Nietzschean.

Beka cursed again. "You're sure they're following us?" she drew her pistol.

"Mm-hm," Telemachus nodded, drawing his Gauss gun. "What do we do? There's ten of them and two of us."

Beka didn't need Rommie to run her the odds; she knew that five-to-one odds were very, very bad. "Time for Plan B," she said, holstering her pistol.

Telemachus looked at her like she was crazy. "Why are you lowering your guard?" he demanded, keeping his pistol trained on the entry.

Beka didn't answer, motioning for Telemachus to put his weapon away.

Telemachus growled, a purely Nietzschean sound. Against his better judgement he holstered his gun. "This Plan B better work," he grumbled.

Beka nodded absently. "Mm-hm. Are they still coming?"

"Yes," Telemachus growled, looking uncomfortably at the entry to the alley.

"I want you to completely ignore the bounty hunters, got it?" Beka said.

"Telemachus frowned. "Wh-"

With that out of the way, Beka threw herself against him, forcing Telemachus up against the alley wall. She felt a brief surge of nervousness as her lips brushed his.

Telemachus's eyes widened. Damn, he _liked_ this Plan B! _Okay, this is probably the only time I'll get an opportunity like this with her_, he thought. He kissed her back, finally having an outlet to vent all the passion and love he had felt for Beka, forcing his tongue through her lips as he heard the bounty hunters approach. He wrapped his arms around her so she couldn't come to her senses and break away.

Beka's knees melted, and the only thing holding her up were Telemachus's strong arms. _This_ was why she loved Nietzscheans! They held nothing back, and Beka found she like the fires of passion Nietzscheans instilled in her.

The bounty hunters stopped, staring at the human and Nietzschean making out alone in the alley. One of the humans shrugged, then muttered something to his companions. They turned heel and walked away without giving them another look.

Beka broke off quickly, backing away. "That will _never_ happen again," she told him, peering around the corner before walking out of the alley and down the crowded street.

Telemachus stayed against the wall, trying to recapture the dream he had just been living. "That will never happen again," he repeated sadly. That line always signaled the end of his relationships. Even a _human_ didn't want to be in a relationship with him. He sighed as a familiar pilot's term came to mind: _crash and burn_. Telemachus shook his head and walked out of the alley, turning to the left, entering the bar.

--------------

Beka strode off, back toward the _Maru._ She was angry, more at herself than Telemachus. "He's a motherfucking _Uber_, goddammit!" she whispered to herself. She sucked her lower lip, remembering how wonderful it had been. She broke into a dead run, suddenly wanting the security of the _Maru_ to make her feel safe.

Once there, Beka collapsed onto her bunk, throwing her arm over her eyes. _Why do you hate Rhade?_ she asked herself. _Why? Is it his attitude and personality, or is it because he is a Nietzschean?_ She groaned, knowing the answer. Beka remembered something Rev had told Dylan once, not long after they had first met Rhade. "_Then, in each species, no matter how horrible: there is room for improvement._" Rhade's voice rang through her head. "_You cannot judge all Nietzscheans based solely on your experiences with Tyr_."

Why was she making such a big fuss about this? she wondered. She'd kissed Dylan dozens of times as a Plan B (sometimes even a Plan A), and she'd never had to question herself like this.

Beka froze. "Oh my God." _Do I love Rhade?!?_ She had only felt this way about two people: Bobby and Tyr, both of which had betrayed her then tried to kill her. But somehow, Rhade seemed... different, more honest and open.

"I'll give him a chance," Beka whispered. "He'll be back by morning; I'll talk to him then." Satisfied, she rolled over to get some sleep.


	9. Doesn't Pish ever go away?

A/N: Songs by Trance Atkins. (No, Samantha, he did NOT invent the Atkins diet!)

Chapter 9

Beka woke up in the morning, got a shower, and started doing some small repair work on the _Maru_ while blasting some ancient Earth CD's.

"Where the hell is Rhade?" she asked of no one in particular as one of her favorite songs came on. It was sad, but Beka thought more than half the time it referred to her life.

"All I can do/ is all I can do./ But I keep on trying./ All I can be/ is all I can be/ but I keep on trying..."

That made up Beka's mind. She would have to go find Rhade. Apparently he had taken her walking away too hard, so...

Beka sat down hard. _I have to admit that I love him_!?! "Oh my God," she said finally. "I don't want to."

_You idiot!_ the voice in her head announced. _Go to him_ now_ or loose him _forever!

"_All I can do/ is all I can do/ but I keep on trying..."_

Beka reached up and hit 'SKIP' on the player. _But what if he rejects me?_ she couldn't help but think. _What if after all this he doesn't want me?_

_Then he would have come back_, the voice countered.

"This ain't no thinking thing/ right brain, left brain/ it goes a little deeper than that./ It's a chemical, physical, emotional devotion/ feeling that we can't hold back..."

Beka could have screamed. "Shut up Trance!" she yelled, ejecting her CD. _Stop putting this off_, she ordered herself, carefully putting her CD away in the hiding spot she used to keep them safe from her brother. She walked to the airlock and sighed, holding her hand over the sensor to open it. She walked out past the customs officer and onto the busy street.

-----------------

Beka retraced her steps until she was back in the alleyway. There was not delightfully beefy Nietzschean waiting for her. "Damn, Rhade where'd you go?" she whispered, walking into the bar.

"Hey, Max!" she greeted the bartender. It was empty save for a Nietzschean passed out on a table.

"Beka!" he greeted her warmly. "The usual?"

"Nah, just water," she said when the kindly old man reached for a glass.

"I saw your wanted poster," he said calmly, reaching for a dusty, little used tap. "800,000 thrones! No, I ain't gonna turn you in," he added, seeing the look on Beka's face. "just to spite the Collector's I'd let you go."

Beka laughed, taking the glass.

"Did'ya come to collect your friend?" Max asked, nodding at the Nietzschean.

Beka turned around. "Oh my God, it's Rhade!" she gasped, putting the glass down and rushing over to him.

"Telekatmus Raday?" Max asked. "the one that escaped the Collector's mind control?"

Beka didn't ask how he knew that, just nodding in agreement and sitting next to Telemachus. "_Andromeda_'s dead in space," she explained. "Blew out her Slipstream drive."

If Beka had been looking she would have seen a sparkle in Max's eye. "That's interesting," he muttered. "Very interesting.

Beka didn't hear him as she slapped Rhade across the face, trying to wake him up.

"I, uh, have to get something from the back," Max said, quickly walking away.

Beka didn't give the retreating bartender a second look. "Wake _up_, Rhade," she ordered, slapping him again. "Wake up," she whispered as Telemachus groaned and his eyes fluttered open.

"Where am I?" he groaned, holding his head.

"A bar," Beka responded, moving to put her arm over his shoulders before quickly drawing it back. _Dammit_, why did she feel so nervous?

Telemachus winced. "Stop yelling."

Beka smiled, sympathetic with his hangover. "You alright?"

"I expect I will be later," Telemachus replied, massaging his temples.

"Drink this," Beka told him, handing him her glass. "It's water."

Telemachus drained it, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and looked at Beka. After a beat or two he turned away, as if embarrassed.

Beka reached out hesitantly and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him like she'd never let him go.

Telemachus turned in surprise, and Beka let go quickly. "Sorry," she muttered.

"No, it was..." Telemachus paused, searching for the right word.

"Let's get back to the _Maru_," Beka cut him off, rising.

------------------

Max hurried out the back door, looking over his shoulder many times. He ran into a deserted warehouse and powered up a console, obviously shiny and new.

"Sir, it's Max."

"You have something to report?" a male voice snapped. No visual appeared on the viewscreen, just the insignia of the Collectors.

"_Andromeda_ is dead in the water," Max said, mentally cursing himself with every word. "She has no Slipstream drive."

"That is _very_ good news," the voice said. "Your family is safe from being exterminated. For now." The transmission immediately cut off.

Max cursed himself and wiped his sweaty brow. How he _hated_ the Collectors, but if he didn't follow their orders, his family would be killed. They had forced him to deliver the shapeshifter Terla, and now he had betrayed the trust of an old friend. "What Beka doesn't know won't hurt her," he told himself.

---------------------

The man on the other end of the transmission turned in his chair to face his boss,

"This is good news," Pish Tryan announced. "I will finally be able to crush the _Andromeda_. She cannot run if this report is to be believed so we have her right where we want her. It will be an easy matter to find her if she cannot move." Pish clenched his fist in triumph. "I want as much force as you can get me," he addressed the small man in the chair below. "I don't care what authorization codes you use; this opportunity won't come again."

The man nodded and placed headphones over his ears, tapping something on his console.

"Now Dylan Hunt," Pish whispered. "You are mine."


	10. Beka and Telemachus

A/N: did I go too fast? Don't hurt me! I'm home sick today with an ear infection, but someone sent the flying plot attack-monkeys after me, and they wouldn't leave me alone. So instead of sitting on the couch watching episodes of _Andromeda_ that I taped and drooling over Rhade, (which is what I _really_ want to do) I'm sitting at the computer typing all the chapters I have in my notebook so far. Enjoy!

**Prin69: **oh, is this when we get to 'squish Pish' as you put it in one of your reviews for Omega Blue? no, really. I might have one of my original characters say that! This chapter goes out for you for having to put up with me when I was doing Ghaeris/ Trance chapters

**Iara: ** You're welcome!

**Miikka:** I already gave you more Rhade, but I decided since I'm a nice person I'll give you this chapter.

**Jamieson Z: **Well, I got more days off that I wasn't planning on having, so you're welcome!

**vampiregirl081:** I always love Rhade, even when he _is_ drunk! Wow, thanks! you don't know how good that made me fell when you said I was your favorite! thank you! so, because you're so nice, you don't just get a kissing scene for this chapter...

**Dancing Queen**: well... I guess you could have Veghn, since the other Rhades are taken. :P

Oenone: I still sorry for no Beka/Gaheris/Telemachus! 

Chapter 10

"What are you doing?" Telemachus asked.

Beka was readying the _Maru_ for takeoff. "We're going back to the _Andromeda_. Terla will bring our Slip drive to us there."

Telemachus nodded, looking silently at Beka. Then he walked back to the bunk he had been assigned, preparing himself for another long, boring Slipstream trip.

"I'm sorry," Beka muttered.

"Excuse me?" Telemachus turned around. "What for?"

"Leaving you last night," Beka said. She bit her lip. "Ahhh..."

Telemachus waved a hand. "It's alright. I'm used to it," he announced, turning back and walking to his bunk.

Beka turned back to the controls but couldn't concentrate because she kept looking back at Telemachus. He was lying on his back staring at the bottom of the one above it.

_Take some initiative!_ Beka ordered herself. She bit down harder on her lower lip. "Dammit, Rhade," she snapped, walking back toward him.

Telemachus's eyes were closed. "What?"

Beka hesitated. "I think I love you."

Telemachus's eyes flew open. _Whoa!_ He sat up quickly, mouth open.

Beka sat next to him, closing his mouth for him. She read into the look of dumb wonder on his face. "Yes, I know, you're a Nietzschean and I'm a human, and there's some kind of weird Nietzschean taboo against that, and-"

Telemachus placed a finger over her lips. "Not where I'm from," he whispered. "Majoram Pride has several half-Nietzschean and quarter-Nietzschean children." Telemachus could hear her heart beating faster than normal.

Beka looked confused. "But Tyr said-"

"Ah." Telemachus's lips formed a thin line. "Tyr said many things. Beka, on Terazed, humans, Nietzscheans, even Than had to work together to keep the dream of the Commonwealth alive. The coming together of different Nietzschean Prides and other lifeforms all working for a common goal, making it through the Long Night intact, led to the mingling of customs and ideas. Some of those ideas were not in accordance with Nietzsche's philosophy, but most of us adopted this new way of thinking. Our isolation from the rest of the Tri-Galaxies also led to the difference between, say... Sabra-Jaguar Nietzscheans and Majoram Nietzscheans."

"Different, huh?" Beka leaned in closer, her lips nearly touching his. "Prove it," she whispered harshly before their lips met. Beka forced her tongue into his mouth, running it along his teeth as Telemachus pulled her in closer. When they finally had to break for air, Beka could hardly catch her breath.

"Did I pass the test?" Telemachus whispered fiercely.

Beka noted just how different he seemed, less sissy-boy Academy jock and more... Nietzschean. "Test ain't over yet," she breathed, pulling off her shirt and unlatching her bra.

Telemachus's breathing quickened. He'd never felt this way about any female, human or Nietzschean, before. He followed Beka's example, starting to pull off his own shirt. Then poor Telemachus discovered a drawback to skintight shirts. He had it halfway over his head when, "Beka, I'm stuck," he complained pathetically.

Beka burst out laughing and laid her head on his chest. She reached for her bra and shirt, and she whispered tow words to Telemachus. "Hotel room."

-------------

In the morning, Telemachus woke with two things, Beka and a hangover. His count had gotten kind of fuzzy, but he thought he remembered him and Beka going through at least two bottles of whatever that stuff had been. Telemachus had been watching her for so long, and finally he felt like he had a steady relationship. Hopefully. His past record wasn't stellar. All the females he had ever been with had either left him for some reason he to this day was not sure of, or they had been complete bitches. But now he felt different, like Beka and he could actually be together.

Telemachus didn't want to eave her there, but he had to do what he had to do. He kissed her bare shoulder and slowly got out of their bed. Putting on a black bathrobe, he walked to the door. He cast one last look at Beka, then twisted the knob and stepped out of the bedroom.

I WANT YOU TO START REVIEWING NOW!!!! DON'T READ ANY FURTHER UNTIL YOU START YOUR REVIEW!!! PLEASE! I WANT TO KNOW WHAT EVERYONE THINKS UP TO THIS POINT BEFORE YOU READ ANY MORE! OK, YOU BETTER HAVE STARTED REVIEWING!

**-------**

Beka woke maybe ten seconds after Telemachus left. She rolled over, and with a flash of fear and betrayal she realized she was alone. "No," she moaned. "No, not again." He had left her.

Suddenly she heard a sound in the adjacent room that calmed all her fears. It was the _hiss_ of water turning on in the shower.

Beka laughed at her own fears and stretched, feeling better then she had in weeks. She got out of bed and walked over to the fancy looking coffeepot on a nearby desk of artificial wood. Beka planned on having coffee ready for Telemachus, but she couldn't even turn the damn thing on.

When Telemachus got out of the shower, the first thing he saw was Beka waging a miniature war with the coffeepot. She hit her hand off the top and cursed. Telemachus laughed and walked over. "Here, Beka. I'll make it."

"I thought you left," Beka said reproachfully as Telemachus reached past her and fiddled with the coffeepot.

Telemachus looked at her oddly. "Why would I do that, Rebeka?"

"Don't call me that," she slapped his arm playfully. "Telemachus."

"But what are we going to do about the problem?" Telemachus asked seriously. "You know about the problem, don't you?"

Beka felt a chill run through her. "What?" she asked warily.

"What will my wives say?"

Beka laughed. "You don't have any wives, Rhade. Everyone knows that." She paused. "You're not gonna make me share you with other women, are you?"

Telemachus laughed easily and handed her a cup of coffee. "We'll take off for Andromeda today?"

Beka nodded as she sipped the steaming, rich black liquid. "What are we going to tell the rest of the crew?"

"Uhhhh," Telemachus made a face. "How 'bout _you_ tell them we're together."

"The words 'hell, no' come to mind," Beka told him. "Harper would never let me hear the end of it."

Telemachus laughed again. "Me either."

"You're a big strong Nietzschean. You can handle it," Beka said, to which Telemachus snorted. "We could keep it a secret..." she trailed off when she saw the look on Telemachus's face.

"I don't think we should lie to them," Telemachus said. "And besides, it'd be impossible to hide it from Rommie. We'll just tell them the truth and deal with it," he decided.

"Then you can tell them," Beka said smugly.

A/N: please review every chapter! please!


	11. Jade

A/N: I know in the intro of Chapter One I said there weren't gonna be any original characters with big parts. Well, that was back when I was planning to make the '_Slipfighter Chronicles_' its own fanfic. Then I realized that most of you people on don't _like_ fanfics staring original characters, so I'm meshing it with 'Echoes of the Past.' Bear with me here.

**Thanks to Iara, Oenone, Casey, Sam, Samantha, Colleen, and Emmy for contributing an original character! Love you all, even though we don't meet all of them in the next couple chapters!**

Chapter 11

"This is all you could get for me?" Pish stood on the bridge of a starship, staring at the viewscreen in front of him.

"I'm sorry, sir," the man on the other end of the transmission said. "It was all I could get on such short notice."

Pish snorted and cut the transmission, revealing the blinking blue dots that represented Pish's new fleet. The ship's captain walked up behind Pish and looked at the battle map in front of them.

"Sir, we scraped together the best battle group we could," the captain said. "It doesn't look like much, but it's nothing to dismiss lightly. Five light cruisers, three heavy cruisers, and," he paused for dramatic effect. "We have the two best Slipfighter squadrons in the Commonwealth, Alpha and Delta Squadrons."

Pish did not look impressed. "Two Slipfighter squadrons hardly seems something to brag about, captain."

"Yessir, but Delta Squadron's members were picked from the best of the best. So was Alpha Squadron. They're forty-eight of the best males and females in the forces. For Slipfighter pilots, that is," he added, a hint of professional disdain seeping into his voice. "Any ten of them could equal any battle cruiser in out fleet, sir."

"It's not equaling any ship in our fleet that I'm worried about, captain," Pish said. "It's beating any ship in the opposing fleet that I'm concerned about. Who are the squadron leaders?"

The captain looked down at the flexi he held in one hand. "Alpha Squadron's leader: Corrin Larkan, human, male. Homeworld Savion-"

"Isn't that a very low-tech planet?"

"Yessir, but Commander Larkan purchased passage offworld." The captain looked down at the flexi again. "His radio call sign is 'Hotshot'."

"And Delta Squadron's leader?" Pish prompted.

The captain frowned at the flexi. "Nietzschean female from Terazed, but apparently she only goes by her call sign, 'Jade'."

"This 'Jade,' what Pride is she from?" Pish asked.

"I don't rightly know," the captain admitted.

"You don't know?" Pish demanded. "We have one of the largest information databases in the Known Worlds, and we don't even know this pilot's name or Pride?"

"No sir," the captain said. "And after seeing her fly, I don't really care what her name is. She's got to be the best pilot out there."

--------------

"You done checkin' that there fighter?" The chief engineer was not a patient woman. "Y'ain't gonna find nothin' wrong wi' it."

"My good woman, there's _always_ something wrong with the new ones," the Nietzschean female retorted, her voice echoing off the interior of the Slipfighter. There was a startled curse as something sparked in the rat's nest of wiring the female was headfirst in. "Could you hand me the thingy?"

The engineer handed the female something silver, shiny, and pointy. (A/N: NO Erin, just because it's shiny doesn't mean it's an extraterrestrial! Sorry, back to the story.)

"No, not that, _that_," she pointed just as vaguely. "The thingy."

"_What_ thingy?" the exasperated engineer demanded.

"The nanowelder."

The engineer muttered something less-than-complimentary as she handed the Nietzschean the nanowelder.

Something sparked, followed soon after by another curse. "There!" the Nietzschean exclaimed in triumph, extracting herself from the wiring and bolting the metal plate over the wires. The Nietzschean female was tall and slim, with dark brown hair and matching eyes. She had a pale complexion that was slightly tanned, giving her skin a healthy glow. She was what most humanoid males described as 'stunningly beautiful'. Of course, if you told her that to her face, she would laugh and tell you to lay off the Flash because it's not good for you.

"Took ya long enough, Jade," a human woman said from the doorway as the engineer stalked off muttering something about overtime. "We're gonna miss the basketball game."

"Cynthia, you know I need my fighter perfect," Jade said, laughing and jumping off the top of the fighter to land on the decking below. "And there is no basketball game."

Cynthia Valerie was an Earther, a fact she'd tell to anyone who'd listen. "Well, we _should_ teach everyone to play basketball," she retorted. "Something has to liven up this ship."

"There's a poker tournament tonight," said a soft-voiced Inari female standing behind Cynthia.

Cynthia brightened. "Another example of a great game from Earth!"

"Winter, where's Nuria?" Jade asked, directing the question at the Inari.

"Probably in the Rec room with everyone else," Winter said. Winter Sharn was soft-voiced most of the time, but piss her off... well, don't say I didn't warn you. "Which is where we should be, too."

"We'll be getting the mission briefing tonight," Cynthia added.

"Hooray," Jade said sarcastically. "Yet another chance for the brass to tell us that we're the best of the best and everyone is depending on us."

"Yeah, like we didn't know we were the best already," Cynthia said.

"Ever the modest one," Winter joked, elbowing Cynthia.

Cynthia shrugged and smirked.

"All Slipfighter pilots, please report to the Recreation room," the ship's voice announced. "All pilots, please report to the Recreation room."

-------------

Jade elbowed her way through the crowded room until she found two other people from her squadron, Kaysea and Shauna. They were arguing about something, as usual. There was another woman standing with them who Jade didn't know. _Must be from Alpha Squad_, Jade thought.

"Just because I rescued you off Earth does _not_ give you permission to 'borrow' some of my belongings!" Shauna announced. Shauna Du'lakar was a female Nietzschean from Drago-Katsov Pride.

"It was only temporary!" Kaysea Alantra protested. Kaysea was a former slave from Earth, whose tendency to 'borrow' things had landed her in trouble more that once.

"I got through people's tuff all the time," the woman Jade didn't know said. "I usually give it back though."

"See, Emmy's on my side!" Kaysea said.

Jade laughed to herself and shook her head, moving past them because it looked like Shauna was about to explode. She finally found a clear spot to stand when the boss came on the viewscreen.

"Alpha and Delta Squadrons," Pish announced. "This is the mission. You are going to be given coordinates in about a week. The coordinates are the location of the enemy _Glorious Heritage_ heavy cruiser that will be waiting for you. I regret I cannot join you in the coming battle-"

_Lying coward_, Jade thought to herself. _Probably going to be running with his tail between his legs_.

"-but I have faith you will to your duty to the Commonwealth," Pish continued. "Good luck." His image on the viewscreen faded.

"Notice how they didn't mention what ship we'd be up against?" a human male muttered, shaking his head.

"_Glorious Heritage_-class cruiser," a Nietzschean male next to him noted. "Corrin, I don't like the sound of that."

Corrin grimaced. "I don't either, Achilles. Considering that Alpha Squadron has never fought side-by-side with that other squad. What is it? Beta, Gamma?"

"Delta," Jade told him. "Maybe we should arrange a few training sessions for our squadrons."

Corrin looked over her appraisingly. "Who are you?"

"Jade," she said. "Commander of Delta Squadron."

"Corrin Larkan," he said. "Leader of Alpha Squadron." Corrin motioned to the Nietzschean next to him. "This is my second in command-"

"Achilles Kadon," the Nietzschean male said, putting up his forearm in traditional Nietzschean greeting, which Jade matched with practiced ease. "Out of Maria by Apollo, of Sabra-Jaguar Pride."

Jade nodded as she lowered her arm. "Should I arrange a practice?"

Corrin hesitated. "Technically we don't have authorization-"

"I'll get the authorization," Jade cut him off. "Delta Squad!" she yelled over the chatter of the other pilots in the room. "Be at your Slipfighters in thirty minutes!"

"Same for Alpha Squadron," Corrin added.

A Nietzschean woman with large brown eyes pushed her way through the crowd. "Jade, what are we doing?"

"Our two squadrons have never had the pleasure of fighting together," Corrin said. "We're going to have a short training session."

Jade slapped the other Nietzscheans arm playfully. "Nuria, where are your manners?"

Nuria looked over her shoulder at the mention of 'manners.' Feigning surprise she said, "Jade, I thought you knew. Manners is shy, and he doesn't like to come out of his quarters." She smirked. "Name's Nuria Fatima, out of Sierra by Tallis."

"Pray tell, what Pride are the both of you from?" Achilles asked.

Nuria hesitated. "My parents were killed before I knew my Pride. All I remember of them is their names."

Achilles nodded in sympathy and turned to Jade. "What is your name and Pride? 'Jade' is a call sign, not a name."

Jade looked at him. "That's my own business," she said coldly, giving him a look that could melt through a heavy bulkhead before turning heel and walking away.

Achilles looked at Corrin and Nuria. "What did I say?"

Nuria paused. "Jade is a very private female," she said by way of explanation before joining the exodus of pilots toward the Hanger Bay.

----------------

"You want _what_!" the captain demanded, his face taking on a scarlet hue. "We don't have time for you Slipfighter jocks to prance your little fighters around!"

Jade stood military-straight in front of the captains desk, trying hard to stifle a yawn of boredom. "Sir, with all due respect, a few hours training now will be very good for our squadrons. We've never fought together, sir, and I think a few battle drills will make it easier in a real fight."

The captain sighed. "Fine. But don't get used to special treatment like this."

"Yessir, we won't sir." Jade saluted and left.

"Took ya long enough," Nuria said from where she had been leaning against the wall. "Let's go beat up on Alpha Squad."

Jade smiled. "Now you're talking."

A/N: my cat is chewing on my toes!


	12. Brief little dogfight in space

A/N: Yes, I know that there are 24 pilots in a Slipfighter squadron, I'm just too lazy to name everyone in Delta Squadron. And besides, I'm only mentioning people who will be important to the plot. And Zeke is still chewing on my toes, just so you know. Anyhow, about the squadrons: I'm getting most of my ideas and inspiration from the Star Wars 'X-Wing' book series, so I'm sorry if I make too many Star Wars references by accident. As far as I know I'm the only person doing anything with Slipfighter squadrons, so if you're reading this and suddenly go: "Hey, I want to do a fanfic staring Corrin Larkan, or some other Slipfighter pilot," please mention whom you got your ideas from. :_coughs_: That would be me!

Chapter 12

Jade roared first out of the gigantic hangar in which her squadron was housed. One by one the rest of her pilots came roaring out behind her. "Form up with your wingman," she ordered over the squadron-only frequency of the radio. "All units report in, call signs only." She paused. "This is Jade, ready to go."

"The Fire's Prophet is standing by on your wing," Nuria announced.

"Tuna here," Clear Running Water, a Than in his male stage of life reported. "All systems check and ready to go."

"This is Oenone," Cynthia said. "Let's kick some Alpha Squad ass!"

"Viper's got all systems workin' without a problem so far," Kaysea said. "Repeat, Viper's ready to go."

"Venus is ready to wreak havoc on arrogant little Alpha boys," Shauna said.

"This is Storm, ready for action," is all Winter said. The Inari woman never said much.

And so it went with the rest of the squadron reporting in with their call signs and stage of readiness. When the last person had reported in, Jade said; "This is Leader. We're meeting up with Alpha Squad at rally point Gamma, which is five light-minutes from here. Remain divided into your wing pairs and be ready for anything. If you hear the tone that means someone has a lock on you, you're out and will fly to rally point Omega, marked in green on the battle map." Jade looked down at her own battle map to ensure it was working properly. The blinking blue dots that represented her squadron were divided up into twelve pairs of two. "Alpha Squadron will be marked in red," she continued. "The object of this exercise is _teamwork_, so if I catch anyone leaving his or her wingman to peruse an enemy fighter, I'll paint you myself," she said, using the pilot slang 'paint' meaning missile lock. "We'll be able to see how Alpha Squadron fights, and vice versa. The mission objective is simple: protect your wingman and paint as many Alpha boys as you can. We're going to head to rally point Gamma now, so be alert. Jade out."

Jade banked her fighter to the left, following the blinking purple dot on her HUD (A/N: heads-up-display) that represented rally point Gamma. The rest of the squadron followed, and they covered the five light-minute distance in well, five minutes, duh.

Jade glanced down at her battle map. "This is Jade. Doesn't look like Alpha Squad is here yet, but I want everyone on active sensors just in case." She flicked the switch on the active sensors, and suddenly her HUD and battle map was awash in red dots.

"Shit, they were waiting for us!" Cynthia exclaimed.

"No unnecessary chatter, Oenone!" Jade snapped. "Everyone, tune your radio frequency to wingman only. You're gonna have to work together. Jade out." She flipped her frequency so that the only radio transmissions she would hear would be Nuria's. "Let's go hunting, Prophet."

Jade and Nuria flew into the already roiling mass of dogfighting Slipfighters. "This is the Prophet," Nuria announced. "I've got a bastard on my tail. Shit, he's almost got a lock on me-"

"On my mark, I want you to come to a dead stop, repeat, _dead stop_," Jade told her.

"Stop! Are you crazy?"

"Mark!" Jade shouted, immediately cutting power to her engines, Nuria doing the same.

The Alpha Squadron fighter zoomed right past them. Before it could bank around, both Jade and Nuria had clean missile locks. The loud tone broke out, and the opposing pilot powered down weapons. "Good piloting," the Perseid male announced over the radio has he bacnked off toward rally point Omega.

"Yeah!" Nuria exclaimed.

Jade shook her head, not bothering to reprimand Nuria for the unnecessary com chatter as she and Nuria flew towards their next target.

--------------------

(**Commonwealth report filed by leader of Slipfighter squadron Alpha, Commander Corrin Larkan)** _Summary of training session: Alpha Squadron lost when Jade, the leader of Delta Squad, and I were the last remaining pilots. After a brief dogfight, she won. Requesting that she be transferred to Alpha Squadron so I don't look so bad. I'm glad we're on the same side._** (End report)**

**A/N:** I was planning on uploading Chapter 13 today, which is more Gaheris/Trance interaction, but I'm out of time because I can't be on the internet after 4:00. Tell me what you think about the new chapters, please!


	13. Gaheris the concerned familyNietzschean

A/N: ok, I wasn't planning on updating for like a week, but last night I sprained my wrist. Once again: I am home alone from school, on the Internet typing instead of sitting on the couch and watching Steve. Do you people have any idea how hard it is to type with your left hand in a splint? Besides, I can't really be mad because I just watched the Star Wars special edition DVD of 'The Empire Strikes Back.' This is the last chapter I have written in my notebook, so **I need major ideas!** Please! This is just a short chapter I had a lot of fun with! I'm taking a lot of liberties and shortcuts w/ Trance and Veghn, so don't hurt me!

**vampiregirl081:** oh, HOORAY! I'm so happy you like the squadron! you just made my day so much better!

**prin69: **love you too, girl, even though you have updated 'Home' in ages. sorry it was confusing. when I said there was the sound of the shower turning on I just assumed everyone would realize: 'oh, Rhade went into the bathroom to get a shower.' that's where he was, so don't worry! ha-ha, Jade and Telemachus know each other better than you'd think... Mwa-ha-ha!

**Jamieson Z:** ok, I'm sorry. I won't do it anymore. and it's not fair! my ear is finally recovered, and then I sprain my wrist! AHHH!

Chapter 13

Gaheris stood across from Trance, fighting hard to keep his jaw from dropping. They were both in Medical, and Trance had just told him something. "You're only going to be pregnant for a week and a half?" he repeated disbelieveingly.

"Two weeks at the most," Trance told him calmly.

Gaheris couldn't help it; his jaw dropped wide open. it had only been four days since...

Rommie ran into the room. Though she had been running hard, her breathing, as usual, didn't change. "You're _what?_" she demanded, skidding to a stop.

Gaheris sighed. "Here we go," he muttered.

Trance faced Rommie, hands on her hips. "I'm pregnant," she stated calmly.

Rommie gave Trance a hug. "I'm so happy for you!"

Andromeda immediately came on an adjacent viewscreen. "This is entirely against military protocol," she said.

Her hologram also appeared. "What are we going to tell Dylan?" she asked the viewscreen.

"Nothing," Andromeda's viewscreen said. "It's not our problem."

Rommie looked at both versions of herself. "How can you- I- _we_?" she paused, confused, "_-you_ be so cold? We're going to have a cute little boy to help take care of!"

Andromeda's hologram sniffed. "I'm a warship, not a daycare center."

"Don't you just love how they talk about us like we're not here?" Gaheris asked Trance conversationally. "Trance, Andromedas, Rommie; I'll leave you four to debate about this. I'm going to get something for morning meal." He left, the door hissing shut behind him.

There was an uncomfortable silence after Gaheris left until Harper walked in. "Trance, Andromeda, Andromeda, Rommie!" he greeted all four. "Who died?" he continued at seeing the solemn expressions.

"It's not who died but rather who will be born," Trance said.

"Huh?"

"Trance is going to have a baby in a week and a half," Rommie blurted out.

Andromeda's hologram crossed her arms. "Gossip," she accused her avatar.

Harper had the same expression Gaheris had; his mouth dropped open. He stuttered some gibberish for a moment, then Trance could finally make out one word: "Who?"

"Rhade," she answered.

"But since Rhade joined the crew the only person he's been hitting on is Beka," Harper said, confused.

"Not Telemachus, Gaheris," Trance replied.

Rommie reached over and gently closed Harper's mouth for him.

Gaheris walked back in with a plateful of eggs. "I see you've informed Harper," he noted at the expression on Harper's face. He walked over to Trance, holding out the plate. "Do you want some? You've hardly eaten for the past few days."

Trance shook her head, and suddenly placed her hands across her stomach and fell to her hands and knees. She vomited violently on the floor, shaking.

In an instant Gaheris was down beside her, steadying her as a wave of trembling swept through her body.

"What's the matter with her?" a concerned Harper asked.

"Severe mornig sickness," Andromeda's viewscreen said.

"Emphasis on 'severe'," Gaheris added, gently picking her up and laying her on the medical bed. "Back when my wives would have this, it was never this bad."

"You have wives?" Harper asked incredulously.

"Had," Gaheris corrected absently. "Had wives over three hundred years ago. Trance, I want you to take it easy," he added. "Andromeda, make sure she doesn't get up."

"I'm- fine," Trance protested weakly.

"No, you are _not_ fine," Gaheris said sharply. "You are going to stay on this bed until I say otherwise."

Andromeda had never seen Gaheris so worried, not even when they were in the midst of battle. "Rhade, wh-"

"I'm not taking any chances with my new family," Gaheris announced, looking at Trance. "I don't want anything to happen to you or our son. Please, Trance, do as I ask."

"But what about the patients?" Trance asked, starting to get up.

Gaheris gently pushed her back down, looking around the Med Bay and seeing all the injured beings from when _Andromeda_ had been hit by the Point Singularity Bomb. "There's the rest of the medical staff."

"I can't leave them shorthanded when there's so many injured," Trance protested. "I feel fine now, really. Just... no eggs, okay?"

Gaheris smiled resignedly. "How is this relationship ever going to work if you don't do what I say?" he asked, letting her get up.

"I'm fine," Trance repeated, walking over to check on an unconscious human who looked like he was in a coma. "Could you hand me that injector?" she pointed vaguely at a tray.

Gaheris walked over and handed it to her. Without another word he walked out of the Med Deck.

---------------------

"You're really worried about her," Rommie stated, following him down the hall.

Gaheris grunted and nodded, turning a corner in the downward sloping corridor.

"She'll be fine. Trance always pulls through," Rommie told him, coming up to walk next to him.

"I know," Gaheris sighed. "But a week and a half... is that normal?"

Rommie shrugged. "I don't know."

"I never thought I'd hear you say that," Gaheris said.

"There are some things that aren't even in my databanks," Rommie replied. "But Trance is a strong person. She'll be fine."

Gaheris turned and smiled at the android. "Thank you, Rommie. That makes me feel better."

"Good. It was supposed to," she told him, smiling back.

A/N: depressingly short, I know. But my wrist hurts, so I'm going to watch Telemachus Rhade beat up on some bad guys and try to figure out what I'm going to do next in this fanfic. Bubs for a while, probably! I just thought I'd tell y'all how I sprained my wrist: I went downstairs to go look at the Andromeda DVDs I have to try and figure out when S3 of 'dromeda will start re-running on Sci-Fi. When I came back upstairs, apparently my dog had thrown up while I was down there. I didn't know about it and slipped and fell. So there's me lying on the floor in a puddle of dog puke with a sprained wrist. Sucks to be me, huh?


	14. Harper's dream

A/N: this is basically mindless fluff I'm writing to take up the space until Veghn is born. :_talking to muse_: "Now, Mr. Smuggles, I want you to hide in this concrete bunker until we finally can get back to the main plot, ok? I'm afraid the fanfic readers are going to eat you."

Iara: well, Harper is easily confused, and it was fun to write! I'm sorry for not e-mailing back yet, but I haven't had much time to be on the Internet.

prin69: I'm glad you liked the 'daycare center' line. There's a whole story behind it. Wanna hear it? Aww, you'll update 'Home' just for me? Thank you!

eris: Thanks tons!

Vee017: awww, thank you! well, I know what _I'd _do for a week alone with Rhade! Oooohhhh, Spike walked into a wall? I musta missed that episode! no, I don't watch Angel that much, so I'm not surprised I missed it. wait, spike died?!?! I musta missed a LOT of episodes, 'cause that's news to me!

Jamieson Z: Rhade therapy works because it takes your mind of the pain for a little while! :P Alright, I'll _try_ to get the two Rhade's together, but no promises!

Chapter 14

Harper was thinking about Gaheris, pitying the poor Nietzschean for having to tell Dylan there would be a kid on board. After a while he passed into uneasy dreams.

"_You drag a body out of cold storage for me to make you an interactive Go partner?" Harper was standing in front of Gaheris. "You're one creepy guy, you know that?"_

Harper was at the battle of Witchhead. He turned around to where Dylan usually stood in the Command Deck, but Dylan was nowhere to be seen. In his place was Gaheris, in the uniform Dylan usually wore. The uniform of a captain.

_Harper felt a pang of fear and betrayal as Gaheris pointed his forcelance at the tesseract machine, _his_ tesseract machine. The machine hat was his only hope of salvation from the Magog larvae chewing through his stomach..._

Harper jolted awake with a cry.

"What is it?" Andromeda asked, hologram appearing.

"Nothing. It's nothing, Andromeda." Harper took a deep breath as she disappeared. The dream had been so real, too real. Like memories. If he thought about it, they didn't fade like most dreams. The images remained fresh in his mind. Harper felt like he knew Gaheris from somewhere else, not just he few days he had been aboard ship. He had told Dylan something like that when Telemachus had come to take Gaheris's body for a hero's burial, almost a year ago. Harper had protested, saying Gaheris didn't deserve it, but then admitted hat he felt like he knew the Nietzschean.

"Why would I have memories from an alternate universe?" Harper asked himself. He was confused, and his head was beginning to hurt from all this thinking. He rolled over to try to get back to sleep.

---------------------- **Four Days Later **

Rommie had done a wonderful job of keeping their dear captain in the dark, but Gaheris knew she'd eventually slip up. He was walking down one of the corridors on his way to Hydroponics and doing a great job on being unnoticed by the rest of the normal crew when:

"Rhade!" Dylan barked, striding quickly down the hall after him. "Where's Trance?"

"She's on the Med Deck," Gaheris said, turning around to face him. "She's the main medical officer, why wouldn't she be there?"

"Yes, I know that," Dylan said, obviously uncomfortable talking to Gaheris. "But she hasn't come out for a few days. Is she alright?"

"Sort of," Gaheris said, sanding in front of Dylan with his hands behind his back.

"Is she sick?"

"Sometimes," Gaheris answered. Might as well make him work for it. Maybe he'll forget what we were talking about. Hopefully...

"Gaheris, stop playing games," Dylan said. He knew that Rhade was trying to make him forget what they were talking about. You're not someone's best friend for years without knowing when the other guy was messing with you. "Give me a straight answer."

For a moment, Gaheris saw a glimpse of the man he had known, his best friend. "Alright," he relented. "Trance is pregnant."

"What!" Dylan's eyes widened. "With who?"

"Me."

"You're on my ship for only a few days, and already you're planning on turning my ship into a daycare center. Dylan shook his head disbelieveingly.

Gaheris bit back a retort, a retort that would have gone something like; _well, lucky for you humans have 'safe sex' or you'd have at least ten children._

"Everyone knows about this but me?" Dylan asked.

Gaheris thought about it. "Well, Beka and Telemachus don't."

Andromeda came on the viewscreen. "Speaking of which, the _Maru_ will be docking in a few minutes."

Gaheris turned to Dylan. "Dylan, there's something I must know. Almost a week ago you told me you trusted me. However... I get the feeling you've been avoiding me."

Dylan put his arm around Gaheris's shoulders as they began walking toward the Hanger Bay. "Consider this past week a test," he said.

Gaheris grunted and nodded. "Did I pass?"

"With flying colors," Dylan told him. "Welcome back to the crew, Gaheris."

--------------------

"How'd it go?" Harper asked Rommie as the two were walking to the Hanger Bay.

"Dylan took it rather well," Rommie replied. "Better than you did."

Harper stuck his tongue out at her. "Time to tell Beka and the other Rhade," he said cheerfully.

"Gaheris and Trance will tell them," Rommie told Harper.

"We can't tell them?"

"_No_, Harper."

-------------------------

Beka landed the _Maru_ in the Hanger, Telemachus standing at the console behind her.

"Dylan, Harper, Rommie, and Gaheris are waiting behind the airlock to the Hanger," Telemachus said.

"Time to return to the military," Beka said, sighing and pushing the pilot's chair back. She touched her cheek. "You might want to uh, lose that beard."

Telemachus raised a hand and felt his cheeks with an expression of confusion. He had forgotten about it. He would have to trim it back down to a goatee. "Well, since you like it so much it can wait until later," Telemachus told her.

Beka smiled. "So considerate," she said, getting up and giving him a quick peck on the cheek. She hit the button opening the airlock. Dylan and the others were not immediately standing there, so Beka launched herself at Telemachus, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and kissing him full on, forcing her tongue through his lips.

They were still at it when Harper bounded through. "Beka, did ya-"he stopped in shock.

Three phrases ran through Beka's mind but got lost on the way to her lips. _No Harper-Bad Harper-Go away Harper!_ She broke away from Telemachus quickly.

Harper suddenly found himself looking up at a very angry Nietzschean. "Go-away-_now_," Telemachus told him, extending his bone blades.

"Meep!" Harper squeaked before running back out the airlock.

Telemachus pulled Beka in for another kiss.

---------------------

Harper almost knocked Dylan over on his run from the _Maru_.

"Whoa, Harper, slow down," Dylan grabbed his arm, stopping him. "Where's Beka and Rhade?"

"They're busy," Harper said, yanking his arm free. "Gotta lock myself in the Machine Shop before pirate-Rhade kills me!" he yelled over his shoulder as he ran off.

"Rommie, go tell them to get down here," Dylan ordered.

Rommie poked her head inside, unnoticed by both Telemachus and Beka. "They're busy," she told Dylan. "They're... talking."

Dylan read into that. "Don't tell me they're making out," he groaned. He threw his hands in the air, turning to Gaheris. "What is it with the _Rhades_?" he asked. "First you and Trance, now Telemachus and Beka."

Gaheris shrugged. "Women just can't resist us," he said unapologetically.

--------------

"I think you scared Harper," Beka told Telemachus, finally breaking away so they could get off the _Maru_.

"But did you see the look on his face before he ran?" Telemachus asked, laughing. "I think he thought I was going to rip his head off with my bone blades."

"We'll, you _did_ have them extended," Beka noted, walking down the ramp into the hanger.

Telemachus looked down in mild surprise to see that his bone blades _were_ out. "Oops," he said, flexing his bone blades before letting them lay flat against his forearms.

Beka laughed as Telemachus followed her down the ramp.

Andromeda's hologram was waiting for them. "Trance wants to see both of you whe you have a chance," she said.

"Where is she?" Telemachus asked.

"On M-Deck," Andromeda said, using the short version of Medical Deck.

"Why? Is she sick?" Beka asked.

Andromeda crossed her arms over her chest. "Ask her. You should be able to tell when you get there, though," she added, disappearing.

Beka looked at Telemachus, but all she got was a helpless shrug.

A/N: And that's all for now, folks! My mom is yelling down the hall wondering why it's taking so long to do my one-page paper for English. My wrist feels a little better, thanks to all y'all who said they hoped I felt better!


	15. Family

A/N: I really don't know why I wrote this chapter, and it's rather pointless, but a lot of loose ends will be coming together in the next couple chapters, so bear with me. I think I musta used the word 'family' at least 15 times, but that's what you get when you're supposed to be writing a persuasive paragraph in English class at nine-thirty in the morning. **Once again, this chapter is completely pointless and boring. It's just to show the softer side of Beka and the protective family side of Rhade.**

**prin69: **well, not really lying. I _did_ have to do an English paper, but I finished it, so started typing chap14. DAMMIT! you update 'home' and I can't read it becausse as soon as I finish typing this I have to get off the internet! I don't know about anyone else, but _I_ for one can't resist the Rhades!

**Jamieson Z:** Thanks tons! I amuse myself so much witht the Dylan/Gaheris, it's just too much fun!

**Iara:**I really meant to e-mail you today, but once again I am out of time on the internet! DAMMIT!

**Vee017:** I'm so glad you liked that line! I read your reviews for the other fics, thanks for reviewing! A lot of people when they go back to read previous fics they don't review, but I'm so happy you did! which one do you like better? "Illusions', 'Explanations', 'Omega Blue', or 'Echoes of the Past'?

Chapter 15

Telemachus wasn't surprised that Trance was pregnant. I mean, come on, if you look at it from a Nietzschean's point of view you'd be surprised that there weren't _already_ little kids on the ship. Beka, however, couldn't have been more shocked if she had looked into the Med Bay and seen little cackling demons running around.

After Trance had told them about what had happened, Telemachus had to ask. "Will Veghn be related to me at all?"

"Well, since Gaheris was your great, great grandfather..." Trance paused, thinking. "Veghn will be like a little brother, I suppose."

Telemachus groaned. "I don't need another brother," he said, though it was obvious he was happy.

"You have a brother?" Beka asked.

"Two, actually," Telemachus told her. "I used to have a sister, but..."

"But what?" Trance asked softly.

"She was killed," Telemachus said. "In the pirate raids on Terazed. That's when I decided to join the Home Guard, when we never found a body." He paused. "It will be ten years ago in two days."

"You were close to her?" Trance asked.

Telemachus nodded. "Her name was Atlanta Rhade, and she was only twelve years old. She was so pretty had and had so much promise... she had wanted to be a Slipfighter pilot when she grew up." He smiled sadly. "She would always tell me: 'I'm going to be the best pilot there ever was'." He trailed off, obviously not wanting to talk.

Beka gave him a hug. "At least you have a normal family." She paused. "Well, semi-normal."

"Whadda ya mean?"

"Well, you _were_ the only one with a normal family before Gaheris came back from the dead," Beka told him. "My family consists of myself and Rafe, Dylan's has been for almost 300 years, Harper's is dead, Rommie's is other warships, and Trance..." She looked at the gold alien.

"I have a family," Trance said somewhat indignantly. "Gaheris and Veghn."

"This is pointless," Telemachus announced. "Beka, why are you talking about everyone's family?"

Beka shrugged. "I was just saying-"she threw her hands in the air. "Never mind. What were we originally talking about?"

Telemachus opened his mouth and hesitated. "Nothing," he said. He didn't want to talk about Atlanta anymore. He was happy Beka had forgotten.

"You want to be part of a family, don't you, Beka," Trance said, a statement, not a question as she sat down on one of the medical beds.

Beka's lips thinned. "I don't need a family."

"Then why did you bring it up just now?" Trance countered calmly. "Beka, all beings need a family. It's all right to desire one. You don't realize how important family is until you no longer have one."

There was a moment of silence. Telemachus opened his mouth to say something characteristically Nietzschean, but Beka immediately cut him off. "No, I don't want to _start_ a family either, Rhade," she told him, and Telemachus's face fell. She crossed her arms over her chest. Alright, if it will make you two shut up, consider the senior officers my family." Beka shook her head. "Jeesh, what's gotten into you two?" She walked out of the Med Bay, leaving Telemachus with Trance.

"Are your people going to be angry with you?" Telemachus asked.

"Definitely," Trance said without hesitating. "Undoubtedly they are on their way here now."

"What? When?" Unintentionally Telemachus's bone blades flexed.

"They'll wait until Veghn is born," Trance told him. "Then they will take Veghn, me, and most likely Gaheris to the Home."

"I should go too," Telemachus said. "You're part of my family now."

"No, Rhade. I appreciate it," Trance smiled sadly. "But they would simply immediately kill you. The only reason they wouldn't kill Gaheris straight off is because he is guilty, as am I." She paused. "It'll be better for both you and me if you don't come. Please, I know that you now consider it your responsibility to protect me, but I don't want you to get involved. I don't want any of the crew to get involved."

Telemachus hesitated stubbornly, then bowed his head. "Alright."

_One thing you have to love about Nietzscheans,_ Trance thought to herself. _They don't give a damn about you until you're one of their friends. Then you are worth some protection. But add the word _family_, and you're suddenly worth risking lives for._

A/N: Weird chapter, I know, but I was bored. I promise more interesting things will be coming soon, so hang in there! :_talking to muse_: 'Mr. Smuggles, I still don't think it's safe. Stay in there, or they'll be coming after you with torches'


	16. Jade Rhade

A/N: A lot of things will be happening all at once in this chapter, so I'm sorry if you get confused! Now, I'm going to pretend that the Collectors never told the military that the Commonwealth is fighting a civil war, ok? Oh, yeah, and a note on **Helix Formation: I made it up. It's formed by two groups of ships, one group on the left and the other on the right, with the middle being comprised of both groups meshed together. **Oh, and I came up with Fana formation all by myself. 'Fana' means 'veil' in J.R.R. Tolkien's Elvish just so you know, and it's pronounced: Fawn-uh.

**prin69:**thank you! when I have time I'll finally get around to replying to your e-mail! YIKES chap15 was just going to be a little chapter that serves absolutely no purpose whatsoever, but now since everyone thinks it's important I'm going to do more w/ family. have fun reading this whole big long chapter!

**Christieanne-Anna: **Beka/Rhade! YAY!

**Mo Cat:** that would be kinda weird if that came up in one of your conversations... :P

**Iara:** I read your e-mail, an I _still_ can't reply! grrr...

**abcde:** That's a great idea! I think I will do that now that you mention it! Thanks tons!

**Jamieson Z:** yuck, essays. that sucks! This extra-long chapter is for you because of your essays!

**Dancing Queen:** I don't know, but since he has two, that would mean one for you and one for me! no, I just made that up because I didn't know anything about his family. Then as soon as I upload that chapter I learn that Rhade had a wife and kids on Terazed! YIKES! thanks!

**Dancing Princess:** and you know what the sad thing is, Samantha? WINTER IS YOUR CHARACTER!!!

A/N: This is a VERY long chapter because everything starts to come together, so bear with me, ok? And I wrote this for **Jamieson Z** because the poor girl has lots of essays, so good luck!

**HAPPY THANKSGIVING Y'ALL FROM NORTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA! :) Mommy's taking my grandmother back to the nurseing home, so I finally have a chance to upload this, it took me three days to type. Enjoy!**

Chapter 16 (Two days later)

Trance was lying in the Med Bay, with the rest of the senior officers around her. She was going into labor, and Gaheris was kneeling next to her, holding her hand tight. Suddenly, Trance looked up in fear. "They're here," she announced, eyes wide and frightened.

"Who?" Dylan asked.

"The scouts. They'll be coming to collect us, Gaheris," Trance said, her voice tight with pain.

One of the medical officers shoved his way through the ring of anxious people around the bed, accidentally stepping on Telemachus's foot. "Would everybody but the father please _leave_?" he requested, irritated. "There's not much room. With all due respect, Captain, I must ask you and the senior officers to vacate the Med Deck."

Telemachus's bone blades came out. "No, we are _not_ going any-"

"Yes, we understand, Doctor," Beka said, putting a hand on Rhade's arm. "We're sorry for disrupting you." She led the retreat from M-Deck, where everyone immediately consolidated into a small group outside the door.

"Why couldn't we stay?" Telemachus demanded.

"We were in the way," Beka told him.

"But wha-" Dylan was cut off by Rommie.

"Captain, I'm detecting a Slipstream event," she said. "One small ship, two lifeforms."

"Trance's people," Telemachus whispered.

"Oh, _that's_ not good," Harper announced.

Rommie paused with her eyes closed, then they flew open. "Dylan, I'm detecting another Slipstream portal, closer in." Her eyes widened. "It's the Collectors."

--------------------

Jade whooped as she roared out of the hangar, the rest of her squadron following._ This is it!_ she thought to herself. Maybe they'd be going up against pirates, or slavers, or Genites... ugh, Genites. They made a chill run through her.

As the rest of the squadron reported in with their call signs, Jade preformed her weapons and systems check automatically, mind caught up in dreams of glory and fame. Maybe someone would write a story about her, the mysterious Nietzschean pilot with no name or Pride. There was no fear of death in her mind, just a grim certainty of returning unscathed after the battle.

When the last member of the squadron had reported in, Jade flipped her comm system to the standard frequency used by the Collectors. "Delta Squadron, all here and reporting for duty," she announced.

"Alpha Squad prepped and ready for action," Corrin's voice came over the radio. "_Fist_, what're the orders?"

"This is _Tight Fist_," the captain's voice said over the radio. The _Tight Fist_ was a heavy cruiser, the flagship of this battle group. "Alpha, Delta, your orders are to fly in close and take out key systems. The cruisers will stand by in support. _Fist_ out."

Jade flipped a few complicated-looking switches until she had the radio configured so that she could hear both the slipfighters and the brass on the cruisers, but the brass couldn't hear her over the radio. "This is Jade; the cruisers are scared of the ship we're up against," she said. "Let's show them that we don't need heavy artillery to back us up." She paused, doing some quick thinking. "Get in Helix formation, Delta on the right, Alpha, you take the left wing."

"This is Hotshot," Corrin said. "Orders received and acknowledged. Pilots, break into your wing groups and maintain radio silence. Hotshot out."

Jade clicked her comm once, slipfighter shorthand for 'understood' as she and Nuria moved into their wing group. Jade glanced at the battle map, pleased to see that everyone was in tight formation in twelve pairs of two, meshed together with Alpha Squadron's twelve pairs of two. "This is Jade. On my mark, each fighter fire one missile at the ship ahead, then follow the missiles at maximum speed." She paused, arming her missiles. "Mark!"

--------------

"Forty-eight missiles incoming," Andromeda's viewscreen said. Beka, Dylan, Telemachus, and Harper were in Command, each at their various stations. Dylan had ordered Gaheris to stay with Trance, an order Gaheris was only too happy to follow. "Missiles followed by forty-eight slipfighters. The cruisers are remaining outside combat radius."

"Rhade, target the missiles first, then the slipfighters," Dylan ordered. "Beka, get us out of here!"

"Uhhhh, _newsflash!_" Harper announced. "We don't have a Slipstream drive!"

"Missile tubes one through forty, fire!" Telemachus announced. The blinking dots that represented _Andromeda_'s missiles intercepted forty of the incoming missiles, and Telemachus activated the point defense lasers to take care of the rest.

---------------------

"There goes our cover," Cynthia said sadly as the forty-eight missiles were summarily destroyed.

"Can the chatter, Oenone," Jade ordered. "Everyone, evasive maneuvers! Fire at will!" She dove, followed by Nuria. "This is Jade; Delta Squadron, split into Fana formation." Fana formation was when a slipfighter squadron splits in half, becoming two separate squads, one under the command of the normal leader and the other under someone else. They would act independently until the usual leader signaled the end of Fana formation. Jade had developed it herself, and she was proud of it because it essentially gave you two independent squadrons.

"Fana formation acknowledged," Cynthia said. "Oenone taking control of Fana Squadron."

"Storm's on your wing," Winter said.

Jade looked down at her battle map to see twelve of the blue dots representing Delta Squadron abruptly turn green and break off from the other twelve.

-----------------------

"What are they doing?" Beka asked, seeing the one squadron split in half.

"I don't know," Dylan said. "I've never seen that before."

Telemachus looked up and blinked in surprise. "Nah, it can't be," he said, looking down at his console then back up at the battle map on the viewscreen.

All attention turned to the Nietzschean male. "What is it?" Rommie asked. "Have you seen it before?"

"That's impossible," Telemachus repeated.

"What is it?" Dylan asked.

"Fana formation," Telemachus said. "I helped develop it."

"Why are you so surprised?" Rommie asked.

"Well, we never told anyone," Telemachus explained. "My two brothers, my sister, and I developed it, and my sister named it 'fana' after a word in an old Earth author's made-up language. 'Fana' means 'veil,' and the end result is the enemy, in this case us, is forced to focus on two independently acting squadrons instead of one moving as a group. In a slipfighter squadron you can split it up even further into four squadrons of six pilots, and even further by eight groups of three pilots. _Fana-esse fana_, a veil in a veil."

"How do the Collectors know about it?" Dylan asked.

Telemachus hesitated. "Maybe one of my brothers told someone at the academy, and whoever he told is the leader of one of these squadrons now."

"You're too smart for your own good, Rhade," Dylan said. "Now the Collectors have a new tactic."

Telemachus shrugged. "Father did always say I had a mind for-" he was cut off by a beeping on his console. "Incoming missiles!" he barked, and _Andromeda_ was rocked by an explosion. "Slipfighters coming in hot!"

--------------------------

Jade was frantically dodging point defense lasers as she skimmed the enemy ship's hull, searching for a good point to drop a missile. "Prophet, you find any weak spots yet?"

"Negative, Leader," Nuria said. "I'm still lookin'."

Over in the newly formed Fana Squadron, Winter was getting curious. "These guys are _good_," she announced over the radio.

"No unnecessary comm traffic!" Cynthia barked.

"Oenone, can we run a sensor scan and find out who we're up against?"

"This is Venus," Shauna said. "Whoever is on the weapons control is a Nietzschean. I can tell from the way he shoots."

"Cut the transmissions if they aren't important," Corrin ordered. "You're clogging up the radio."

"Hotshot, Jade, this is Oenone. Requesting sensor scan of the enemy vessel."

"Permission granted," Jade said. "But don't get all shot up while you're scanning."

"Storm, you have full sensor kit, right?" Cynthia asked.

Winter clicked her comm twice, meaning 'yes'.

"Alright, scan the ship," Cynthia ordered. "Let's find out who we're fighting."

Suddenly a scream broke out over the comm, then Corrin's voice. "Thief? Thief, come in." A sigh, coming out over the radio as a burst of static. "Alpha Squad, we've lost Darianna."

"This is Storm," Winter said solemnly. "The ship we're fighting is the starship _Andromeda Ascendant_."

Silence. "The _Andromeda_?" Jade finally said. "You're sure?"

"The sensors don't lie at this range," Winter said.

"The _Andromeda_ founded the Commonwealth," Cynthia said. "Why are we attacking?"

Suddenly, all those strange little occurrences clicked together like a puzzle. "The Collectors," Jade announced. "They've taken over the Commonwealth."

"This is Ace," Achilles's voice came over the comm. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Don't you see it?" Jade asked quickly. "_Andromeda_ comes to Terazed, very hush-hush, leaves in a hurry along with most of the fleet and Tri-Lorn."

"I saw on some drift there're wanted posters for the crew of the _Andromeda_," Kaysea said.

"Drago-Katsov Pride wants the senior officers alive," Shauna added in her deep, husky voice.

"Don't you understand?" Jade said again. "We're fighting a war against _Dylan Hunt_."

Silence over the comm as the slipfighter squadrons continued to dodge missiles and laser blasts.

-------------------------

"They're not firing, and I'm detecting heavy comm traffic," Rommie said.

"That's odd," Beka said.

"Is there enough chatter for you to break the encryption code?" Dylan asked. That's why most ships keep radio silence during a battle; the less you talk, the less likely that enemy ships can break the encryption code on your transmissions.

"Calculating," Rommie closed her eyes briefly, then opened them again. "Yes. There's a lot of chatter; I'll give you the summary."

Andromeda answered for her. "The pilots don't seem to know the Commonwealth has split, and the Collectors are in control," the viewscreen said. "They didn't know who they were fighting, and seem shocked at who we are."

"Captain, they're talking again," Rommie said. "I'll patch it through so you can hear it."

-----------------

"We're fighting the _Commonwealth_," a male Perseid said in shock, and Jade recognized the voice as that of the pilot she and Nuria had shot down in the training exercise.

"Not only the Commonwealth, Smarty," Corrin said to the Perseid "_Dylan Hunt_, the man who _founded_ the Commonwealth after the Long Night. He paused. "_Andromeda_ saved my homeworld two years ago, Savion. The Cetus was going to devour the planet, but _Andromeda_ killed it before it could get us."

"_Andromeda_ saved my planet as well," Clear Running Water, a Than, announced. "Mobius was about to be destroyed by the planet-killer, but _Andromeda_ was able to direct the PSBs into Slipstream instead of at our planet."

"_Andromeda_ ferried Elsbett Mossadeem to her wedding with Charlemagne Bolivar," Achilles said. "And somehow managed to convince her not to blow him into little pieces, which lead to the uniting of Sabra and Jaguar Prides. _Andromeda_ also helped us in our war against the Drago-Katsov."

"I don't see that as a good thing!" Shauna announced, being a Drago-Katsov Nietzschean herself. "But two of _Andromeda_'s crewmembers started the slave revolt on Earth, creating the necessary diversion-"

"So she could get us offworld," Kaysea finished.

"I also snuck offworld during the revolt," Cynthia said. "I wouldn't be here without them."

"_Andromeda_ convinced our leaders to stop sending fertilizer to the Pyrians," Winter said, the Inari's voice not going much higher than a whisper. "We would have been destroyed by the Pyrians."

"_Andromeda_'s First Officer, Beka Valentine kept Pierpont Drift from being destroyed by the Than Hegemony," a woman said, and Jade recognized her as the woman who had been arguing with Shauna. Jade bit her lip, trying to remember her name... Emmy, that what Kaysea had called her.

"Dylan Hunt is the hero I've grown up with since my childhood," Jade said. "I can't fight against him, or anyone else on board _Andromeda_. My _brother_ serves on that ship. I couldn't live with myself if _Andromeda_ was destroyed and he was killed and I did nothing."

Silence over the comm.

---------------------

Telemachus had his brow furrowed in thought. "I know that voice," he muttered. "But that's impossible."

Dylan didn't hear him. "We should try and find out who her brother is-"

"I can guess," Telemachus said.

"Who?" Harper asked.

Telemachus hesitated, and Andromeda's viewscreen said; "I've been analyzing the patterns and inflections in Jade's voice. They match positive with-"

"Me," Telemachus said. "That's my sister out there."

"You said your sister was dead," Beka said.

"We never found a body," Telemachus corrected. "It all fits. The formation, the name of which is from an old Earth made-up language, the mention of a brother, the voice match..." his voice was hopeful, and Harper hated to say it, but:

"It could be a huge coincidence," he said. "Ya never know."

"I've pulled up records of the pilot 'Jade'," Rommie said, and a picture appeared on the viewscreen with letters in Vedran next to it. "All I could get were training scores and military accomplishments. No background information or Pride, only 'Jade, Nietzschean from Terazed, age, and scores."

Telemachus looked at he picture. "That's her! It's Atlanta!" He looked at Dylan with a pleading look. "Can you get me on the radio with the squadrons?"

Rommie closed her eyes. "Radio link open.

------------------------

"I think we should just jet straight outta here and not look back," a female Jade didn't know announced over the comm.

"Yeah, but Calisto, what if Pish comes after our families?" Corrin asked, and Jade recognized the call sign as Xena Rarsh's, a Nietzschean from a small Pride, Ursa.

"Then you stay," Jade said. "I for one-" she was cut off.

"Transmission from _Andromeda_," Winter announced suddenly.

"This is _Andromeda_ contacting Alpha, Delta, and Fana Squadrons," a male voice said. "Atlanta, is that you?"

"Telemachus?!?!" Jade exclaimed happily.

"Atlanta, how, wha-" Telemachus was cut off by Winter.

"Incoming transmission from the _Tight Fist_," she said solemnly.

"What the _fuck_ are you doing!" the captain yelled. "Why are you talking instead of blowing them up?"

"They can't hear what we're saying, but they can detect out transmissions," Winter said.

"Telemachus, I have to go," Jade said, blinking past tears. "I'm gonna get back to you, I'm sorry." She smiled. "I'll draw off as many cruisers as I can." She cut the transmission, and opened a line to the _Tight Fist_.

"Captain, I can't fight the _Andromeda._ I'm leaving," she announced. "I have no quarrel against you, but if you continue firing at _Andromeda_, you are going to have at least one angry slipfighter firing missiles up your ass." She directed the next statement to the slipfighters. "If anyone is with me, we're gonna get out of here," she flipped the radio back to its previous setting so the cruisers couldn't hear her next order.

"If you attempt to leave, we will consider you aiding the enemy and treat you as such," the captain warned.

"On my mark, we are going to charge straight at them," Jade said. "Anyone else who is not with me, stay outta the way, or I won't hesitate to blow you out of space. "Mark!" she ordered, and gunned her engines. She was followed by thirteen other slipfighters.

"Anyone who stops any of the incoming slipfighters will receive 100,000 thrones!" the captain announced. The remaining thirty-three slipfighters immediately began giving chase to Jade and her pilots, and then the cruisers opened fire, catching them in a deadly crossfire.

Kaysea received a direct laser hit to the engine from one of the following slipfighters. "I'm hit, I'm hit!" she screamed frantically as her slipfighter spun into an uncontrollable roll.

"No, Viper!" Shauna yelled. "You can hold it, you can hold it!"

Kaysea's screams were abruptly cut off as her slipfighter exploded into a fiery ball of glowing particles.

"Kaysea!" Shauna screamed.

"Eternal life grant unto her, and may perpetual light shine upon her," a male voice said, and Jade recognized it as the voice of Infinity Trigan, the squadrons' resident Wayist.

"This is Venus," Shauna said darkly. "I'm going after that son of a bitch." She quickly pulled a hard 180, facing the opposing slipfighters.

"This is Moses," Infinity said. "I've got your wing, Venus." He pulled the same maneuver.

"Venus, Moses, no," Jade pleaded. "You'll be killed."

"I have to avenge Kaysea," Shauna said calmly, and Jade could almost see Shauna's bone blades extending. "Jade, I have to. I owe her that much. And besides, the more Infinity and I take down, the less likely you'll get _shot in the back_ like Kaysea was."

"My soul is prepared to meet the Divine," Infinity said. "Are theirs?"

Shauna and Infinity roared back toward the opposing slipfighters as Jade and the other eleven continued on their path to the cruisers.

"I am Shauna Du'lakar!" Shauna yelled as she dumped her full load of missiles. "Out of Liona!" a huge explosion as two enemy fighters hit her missiles and exploded. "By Ulassim!" she triggered her lasers, reducing another fighter to dust. "Of Drago-Katsov Pride!" The loud tone broke out, and Shauna was out of firepower, so she used the last available weapon she had. "Fear me!" she screamed, piloting her slipfighter nose first into another. Both slipfighters erupted into a golden-yellow fireball, catching a third in the shock wave, and just like that, Shauna Du'lakar, out of Liona by Ulassim of Drago-Katsov Pride, was gone.

"Eternal life grant unto her, and may perpetual light shine upon her," Infinity said. He flipped his comm frequency over to that of the other fighters. "You are about to meet the Divine," he said calmly. "Are your souls prepared?"

"I thought Wayists were peaceful," a woman said as Infinity blew up one of her pilots.

"Kill them all, and let the Divine sort them out," Infinity said firmly, right before the woman blew him out of space.

Jade blinked tears out of her eyes. In three minutes she had lost three pilots to people she had counted on as allies. "Telemachus, don't let me down," she muttered.

"One light-minute until we reach the cruisers," Cynthia reported. "Enemy slipfighters still coming."

"Hard 180!" Corrin ordered. "We've got to take them head-on."

"Wait!" Winter exclaimed. "Look!"

It was the Andromeda, all lasers and missile tubes blazing. The enemy slipfighters turned to meet this new threat, and were summarily destroyed one by one.

"Incoming transmission from the _Andromeda_," Winter said.

"This is Captain Dylan Hunt," Jade heard Dylan's voice over the comm. "Good work, Alpha and Delta squadrons."

"Thank you, sir," Jade and Corrin said at the same time, and suddenly the viewscreen in each slipfighter came to life, showing Dylan standing on the Command Deck.

"We are out of missiles, but I just wanted to wish you good luck against the cruisers," Dylan said.

"Thank you, sir," both Jade and Corrin said again, then laughed.

"Are you going to be alright against the cruisers?" Dylan asked. "Or do you want us to deploy our own slipfighters as backup?"

Jade felt giddy. _Dylan Hunt is asking _me_ if I need help!_

"No, sir," Corrin answered. "We know all the weak points in their hulls and where there are gaps in their sensor fields."

"They aren't top-of-the-line cruisers," Jade added. "Us slipfighters were the best in this battle group."

Dylan smiled. "I believe you. Our hanger bays are open to all of you when you're finished with the cruisers. _Andromeda_ out." The transmission cut off.

"We just talked to the founder of the Commonwealth." Emmy sounded like she'd just met Drago Mousevni or George Washington.

"Blondie, juke port, juke port!" Corrin ordered.

Emmy banked to the left, narrowly missing being hit by a missile fired from the cruisers ahead.

"Cruisers in range," Winter said belatedly.

"Blondie, are you all right?" Corrin demanded.

"I think I just shit my pants," Emmy said, obviously rattled.

Jade snorted then composed herself. "Alright, we'll label the light cruisers from port to starboard A, B, C, D, and E. From port to starboard we'll label the heavy cruisers Beta, Gamma, and Omega. Oenone, you take cruiser A, Hotshot, take cruiser B, Bang, take cruiser C, Tuna, D, and Calisto, E. Blondie and Storm take cruiser Beta, Ace and Smarty take cruiser Gamma, and the Fire's Prophet and I will take cruiser Omega. Everyone clear on your orders? Good, let's go."

Knowing the weak points made the complete destruction of the five light cruisers and two of the heavy cruisers little more than execution. But the last cruiser, the _Tight Fist_, just as it was about to go critical, ejected its slipstream drive, then exploded. The ejected drive opened a random Slipstream portal.

"Jade, I'm getting' sucked in!" Winter screamed frantically.

"Keep calm, Storm, keep calm," Corrin said. "Get ready, everyone. We don't have enough power to escape the portal, so get ready to ride one of the worst 'Stream jumps in your life."

Jade took a deep breath and readied herself for the jump into Slipstream.

It was the whirlpool effect; if Shauna had been there to see it she would have been furious that the Collectors were using a Drago-Katsov strategy against them. One by one, the eleven slipfighters and their pilots were unceremoniously yanked into the 'Stream, leaving behind nothing but the wreckage of enemy ships, not knowing where they'd end up.

------------------------

"No!" Telemachus leaned forward as he helplessly watched his sister be pulled into Slipstream to who-knows-where. "Atlanta-" and she was gone in the blink of an eye. There was silence as Telemachus's shoulders slumped. "Atlanta," he whispered sadly.

"Rommie, can you trace the route?" Beka asked. "Find out where they'll end up?"

"I'll try," Rommie said.

"Don't worry, Rhade," Harper said, clapping Telemachus's shoulder. "We'll find your sister, don't worry."

Trance came on the viewscreen. "You guys might want to see this," she said, smiling.

The senior officers exchanged hopeful looks, then as one started running for the Med Deck.

A/N: God, Chap16 was almost like a mini fanfic, wasn't it? This chapter was longer than all of 'Illusions'! I can finally change my screenname know that we know who Jade really is! HOORAY!


	17. Veghn Rhade

A/N: I named him 'Veghn' after my favorite character in the TV show 'The Magnificent Seven' and then later found out that on the show his name is spelled 'Vin', which pissed me off. Oh well, I like my spelling better, because I went through a few drafts: Veghn, Ven, Venn, Vehn and Vin. Anyhow, we finally get to meet Veghn! HOORAY! Why is he silver? I just picked my favorite color besides purple, so there is NOT a method to my madness! Maw-ha-ha! :P **Now this is when that little extra scene at the end of Chap7 becomes important, y'all!**

**prin69:** as a fellow blonde, I resent that comment! just kidding. lol, hiding from the fam, I do that all the time! yeah, Jade is me. so glad you liked it!

**Jamieson Z:** ha, and all my beta readers at school thought I made it too obvious when I was talking about the sister in the previous chapter! :_jumps up and down pointing_: I'M RIGHT YOU'RE WRONG! sorry 'bout that... anyhow, so happy you liked it! no guarantees on anything Jade happening soon, I'm mostly going to focus on Gaheris/Trance trouble (and there will be trouble. Mwa-ha-ha! :P)

**Now, the reviewer counter says three more people reviewed, but it wasn't showing up on the screen at the time I uploaded this. I'll try to reply to those other ones ASAP, so be patient, I'm not forgetting you!**

Chapter 17

He was silver. He had pointed ears. He had a tail. Not your typical Nietzschean child, but Gaheris couldn't have been happier if he was the Progenitor was reincarnated. He knelt next to Trance, who was holding the baby and still reclined on the medical bed.

"Veghn Rhade, out of Trance by Gaheris," Gaheris whispered as he held the child's tiny hand, and Veghn's tail flicked. Gaheris was fascinated by the tail, which was purest silver, and the end looked like it was dipped in black paint. His eyes were not the customary blue of most newborns, but were a deep chocolate brown, like both Gaheris and Trance's brown eyes. He also had pointed ears on either side of a face that made Gaheris feel like he was looking at an old holo of _him_ when he was a baby. Minus the silver, duh. His face wasn't just one solid color of silver, but had patterns of darker silver that looked exactly like Trance's dark red streaks.

Veghn blinked his large, intelligent eyes as the door to the Med Bay hissed open, and he didn't seem frightened at all as everyone crowded around to try and get a better look.

"Ow, Rhade, you're on my foot!"

"No, I'm not!"

"The other Rhade!"

"Beka, your elbow is in my face!"

Finally everyone got situated in a ring around the bed Trance was in.

"He's silver," Harper said in shock.

"He looks like you, Rhade," Dylan said.

"He's _silver_," Harper repeated.

"He's _cute_," Beka corrected, whacking Harper on the back of the head.

Gaheris couldn't stop smiling as everyone crowded around, complimenting his son on everything from the flexibility of his tail to the color of his eyes. Veghn discovered a new game: see how many times he could 'accidentally' hit Harper in the face with his tail before getting in trouble. Veghn's laugh was light, innocent, carefree.

It was too good to last.

Andromeda's hologram appeared. "Captain, we are receiving a transmission from the small ship."

Gaheris had forgotten all about the other ship.

"It's my people," Trance whispered, and the color drained from her face, making the red streaks stand out even more.

Veghn seemed to sense something was wrong; he looked anxiously from his mother to his father and back again. The black-tipped tail stopped halfway to hitting Harper again, and if Veghn could talk, Gaheris had a feeling that he'd ask what was going on. The puzzled look on his face said as much.

"Onscreen," Dylan told the hologram, and an image of a woman with pointy ears and a blue complexion appeared on the small viewscreen in the Medical Bay.

"Captain Hunt," she said in short, clipped tones. "I respectfully request to speak with Trance Gemini."

"I'm here, Nara," Trance said as Gaheris helped her up so that she could walk over to the viewscreen where the woman could see her. "I'm ready."

They stood outside the airlock to the Hanger Bay in strained, uncomfortable silence. Nervousness was so think that you could almost see it hanging in the air like a smothering blanket. Veghn had his arms and tail wrapped tightly around Gaheris's biceps, and he buried his face in the white blankets Trance had wrapped him in.

The green light came on next to the airlock. "Pressurization complete," Rommie said, but no one made a move toward the airlock.

"I don't think you should go," Telemachus said, breaking the brittle silence.

"I know," Trance replied softly. "But I have to."

Dylan, Trance, Telemachus, Beka, Rommie, Harper, and Gaheris (carrying Veghn) walked out to the other ship. The ship's airlock hissed open, revealing the blue female from the viewscreen and a green male standing behind her.

"Trance Gemini," the blue female said coldly.

"Nara Taurus," Trance responded in kind. She looked at the green male. "Greeting, Apollo Seveniyah."

The green male Trance had referred to as Apollo inclined his head.

Gaheris had never heard Trance so formal, and wondered whether all her people were like that.

Nara looked at Gaheris, and the bundle of white blankets he was holding. All that could be seen of Veghn was one pointed, silver ear. "That is the child," Nara said, more a statement than a question.

"He is my son," Trance said, obviously a ceremonial answer.

"By the laws of the Home you are to be given a chance to explain yourself," Nara said.

"I have no explanation," Trance responded, calmly lifting her head as if daring Nara to refute that statement.

"Then you give us no choice," Apollo said sadly. "We must request you accompany us to the Home, where your fate will be judged."

Trance nodded. "I understand, and will not impede the journey in any way."

"Which is the father?" Nara asked, looking from Telemachus to Gaheris and back again.

"I am," both said.

"Telemachus, _no_," Trance said firmly. "We already discussed this. _Please_ don't make it any more difficult than it has to be. Your being with me will not protect me in any way; it will only make matters worse."

Telemachus, obviously unhappy, nodded. "Pick your battles, Rhade," Beka told him. "You can't win this one."

"Trance Gemini, you will take your... mate and child on board our ship," Nara ordered.

"You will be given time to say your farewells," Apollo added, looking at Nara, who grimaced and nodded.

Trance looked at Telemachus. "Rhade, I appreciate what you are trying to do," she said, grasping his shoulders. "But please, listen to me and Beka. I know your Nietzschean over-protective-family gene is coming into play, but it won't help me any." She smiled sadly. "Promise you won't follow."

Telemachus nodded firmly. "I promise."

"You will find your sister again, Rhade," Trance told him. "I can feel it. Don't give up hope for those slipfighter pilots; once _Andromeda_ is fixed, go after them, not me."

Trance looked at Harper. "You've been like a brother to me, both when I was purple and now that I am older. She pressed his hand to her cheek. "Thank you," she whispered.

She turned to Beka. "Beka, you took me in on the _Maru_ and gave me a home for that part of my journey. You were the only one to trust me when I came back from the future." For the briefest of moments Trance's eyes flicked to Telemachus. "Do not let their shortcomings convince you that things would be the same."

Beka grimaced. "I'll think on it," she told Trance, grasping the other woman's forearm. "Don't you go and leave me and Rommie the only women with the senior officers."

Trance smiled. "Rommie, Andromeda," the hologram appeared next to the android, and the viewscreen image came on an opposite wall. "Be strong, and remember you are more than just a warship."

"Dylan." Trance stood in front of him and looked into his eyes. There were no spoken words, but Dylan could hear her as clearly as if she had spoken. _The _Andromeda_ will be fixed soon. Telemachus will attempt to convince you to follow me because I may be gone for a month or more. Do not, because if you do the perfect possible future will be lost to us forever. Follow the slipfighter pilots. I don't know how, but somehow they are the key._

"No pressure," Dylan smiled and hugged Trance. "Please, come back soon."

Trance smiled and turned to face everyone. "If I... do not survive, my people will send a messenger, and most likely another," she hesitated. "Another avatar to guide you." Tears pooled in her brown eyes, but did not fall.

"Time to go," Nara sad sharply.

Trance bit her lip. "Good bye, Rommie, Harper, Rhade, Beka, Andromeda, Dylan." She no longer did anything to hide the tears streaming down her face. "Good bye," she whispered.

Gaheris used his free arm to pull her into a hug, and Trance cried into his red leather uniform jacket. He did not give everyone his or her own good bye message because it was obvious Nara was getting impatient. He simply stood in front of all and saluted. "Good bye, my friends." His eyes roamed over all present, burning them into his memory. He opened his mouth to say something more, but Nara gave him a sharp poke in the back of the head with her tail.

"Time's up," she announced.

Trance and Gaheris turned and followed Nara and Apollo onto their ship. Veghn turned so he was looking over Gaheris's shoulder, and sadly waved a tiny hand good bye.

A/N: Once again, this would be another chapter typed while my mother thought I was doing an English paper. REVIEW!!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!! Just hit the Trance-colored button...


	18. Are we there yet?

A/N: I actually have nothing to put in this, except that I had just watched 'The Mummy Returns', and that's when I got the inspiration for this chapter.

**Iara:** I'll e-mail you back as soon as I upload this chapter, so happy you love Veghn!

**Vee017:** You're welcome, so now I just did it again! oh, poor Telemachus WANTS to father children w/ Beka, but Beka don't want no kid! :( After writing that chapter, my friend erin calls me and said there was an episode of the X-Files where all these babies were being born with tails, and I'm like 'Omg, it's Veghn!'

**vampiregirl081: **congratulations, you are now the inspiration for Chapter 20, which I wrote last night that is all Beka/Rhade! I'd upload it sooner, but I already had chapters 18 and 19 written in my notebook. As soon as I read your review I finished Chap19 sooner than I was planning on and wrote Chap20 for you. I'll try to upload it today because we don't have school because it's hunting day. hooray! (:_rolls eyes_: hear the sarcasm, people) :P I just had to have Veghn hitting someone w/ his tail. :D

**prin69: ** where are you?????

**Oenone:** where are you?????

Chapter 18

"Are we there yet?" Trance, Gaheris, Veghn, and Nara were in one of the many large, empty rooms on board their ship. Trance was teaching Veghn Common, and Gaheris was doing his best to piss off his hosts. He was banking on the fact that Nara obviously considered him inferior to her.

"Are we there yet?"

"No," Nara replied sharply.

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?" Gaheris realized he was sounding like Harper, but hell, it was fun. Veghn was learning Common at a surprising rate. His first word was 'tail', followed soon after by 'daddy, 'Veghn', and 'mommy'.

"No!" Nara was getting annoyed. "Shut up!"

"Don't I have freedom of speech?"

"What do you think this is, a democracy?" Nara waved her tail in his face. "You're in enough trouble as it is, so please, keep running your fool mouth!"

"If you insist," Gaheris replied, and started whistling.

"Why don't you go bother Apollo?" Nara demanded.

"He's piloting," Gaheris responded.

Veghn looked at Nara and laughed at the sight of the frustrated blue woman who was so much shorter than his father. Gaheris looked over and was abruptly struck by how _big_ Veghn was. He looked like a two-year-old, and his bone blades had already begun to erupt on his forearms.

"How fast is he going to grow?" Gaheris asked, walking over to Trance.

""In about a month he'll be at the growth stage and intelligence level of a five-year-old human," Trance told him, and Gaheris's eyebrows rose. "After that, in another year he'll be at the growth stage and intelligence level of a thirteen-year-old human. After that he will begin to grow at the same rate as a normal Nietzschean child."

Nara said something to Trance in what Gaheris assumed was their native language.

"Speak Common," Trance told her.

"Why are you not teaching the child our language?" Nara demanded.

"I would have thought the answer would have been obvious," Trance countered calmly. "You would not want Gaheris to learn our tongue."

"Right, well, I know when I'm not wanted," Gaheris told the two women, who were glaring daggers at each other. Neither noticed when he left the room, and as soon as he did he heard what sounded like Nara exclaiming angry gibberish at Trance. Veghn got up off his mother's lap and started crawling after his father.

Gaheris was halfway to the cockpit when he heard a voice remarkably similar to his own. "Daddy, stop." He turned around to see Veghn crawling toward him. He picked him up.

"What're you doin' out here, buddy?"

"Mommy an-an-and Blue Lady were ago- argoo- fighting," Veghn said, his brown eyes wide and earnest. "I wanted to be with you, Daddy."

Gaheris sat down on the floor and put the silver child in his lap. "So, what do you want to do?" He knew from previous experience that children didn't like being talked down to, a fact he had tried to convince his wives of repeatedly.

"Daddy, can you tell me a story?" Veghn looked up at his father.

Gaheris laughed. "A story? I dunno-"

"Pleeeease?"

"All right." Gaheris thought for a little bit, and while he was thinking the ship jumped out of Slipstream. "There was once a Nietzschean-"

"What's a Knee-zee-en?" Veghn asked.

"A _Nietzschean_. Like me." Gaheris showed Veghn his sharp bone blades, and then taking the child's hand ran it along the tiny nubs on his arm that would someday become wicked bone blades like his father's. "See?"

"Nietzschean," Veghn repeated. "I'm a Nietzschean?"

"Yup."

"Is Mommy a Nietzschean?"

"No, Mommy isn't a Nietzschean," Gaheris told Veghn.

"Then what is she?" Veghn asked innocently.

Gaheris opened his mouth and hesitated.

"Your mother is a very special woman," came a male voice from down the hall. Gaheris turned to see Apollo walking toward them from the cockpit. "Why don't you go ask her?"

"O-kay," Veghn said. "But how come everybody is a different ca-wer?"

"Huh?" Apollo asked, leaning against the wall.

"Ya know, it's like a crayon box," Veghn said, to which Gaheris immediately wondered '_How does he know about crayons?_' "Your gween, I'm sil-ver, Daddy is white, Mommy is gold, and then there's the blue lady."

"Uhhhh..." Gaheris didn't know what to say. "Go ask your mother," he told the child, picking him up off his lap and setting him on the floor. Gaheris stood up as Veghn stumbled his way back to Trance.

"He's a cute kid," Apollo said. "I've never been compared to a crayon before."

Gaheris laughed. "Me either."

Silence. "How long until we get to wherever we're going?" Gaheris asked.

"Few more days in the 'Stream," Apollo replied casually. "It's been a while since I've been to the Home."

"What is this 'Home' I keep hearing so much about?" Gaheris asked.

"The most beautiful place in all the universes," Apollo said with a dreamy look on his face. "It's where the first sun created an avatar, and-"

"Apollo!" a sharp voice barked from the doorway. "Keep your mouth shut unless you want to appear before the Meeting like Trance will!"

Apollo bowed deeply as Nara brushed past him to enter the cockpit. When he rose from his bow he looked at Gaheris and rolled his eyes. As the ship jumped back into Slipstream under Nara's piloting, Apollo motioned for Gaheris to follow him into the room Trance and Veghn were in. "You would have liked Nara in her younger days," Apollo said in a low tone, sitting on the floor in a spot where he could see the door.

"Storytime!" Veghn said happily and he came over to sit in Gaheris's lap as Trance walked over and sat next to Gaheris and Apollo.

Apollo tousled the young boy's dark hair. '_Was it that thick before?_' Gaheris asked himself.

"Nara Taurus witnessed her sister go through Trial," Apollo said solemnly.

Suddenly it clicked. "Taurus," Gaheris repeated. "Her sister was Celestial Taurus."

"I see Trance has told you the story," Apollo said. "Nara was never the same after that."

"What happens in a Trial?" Gaheris asked.

Apollo and Trance exchanged glances. "Let's hope you never have to witness one," the green male said, and he left it at that.


	19. Trance's fate

A/N: I've decided that Trance's people's native language would probably not be Common, so I decided to substitute J.R.R Tolkien's Elvish. I was bored, ok! The translation will be at the bottom of the page.

**Prin69:** sorry 'bout your day. How 'bout I dedicate this chappie to you? Would that make you feel better? How'd you know, Apollo IS hot! :P no, really, he is!

**Mo Cat: **errr, mine is purple. I'll ask other people though, ok? So happy you like the silver!

**Iara:** I TOTALLY LOVE VEGHN! YAYNESS! ok, sorry. :P I have to get off the internet in about a minute, so I won't have time. I'm so happy you like the X-Files-Andromeda crossover, I'll work on that in my spare time. (If I ever get any)

**Dancing Queen: **thank you! I got the 'are we there yet' from the Mummy Returns movie, and I just love it! I'd be a peach crayon, too.

**Dancing Princess: **s'ok, I got over that highly embarrassing fact. :_blushes_: IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT, SAMANTHA!!!!

**Maglenan Princess:** I finally figured out how to spell your s/n! I'm so proud of me! (mag-le-nan!) sam, I had to kill your character because I couldn't have too many females. you got to have a Tyr moment, though!

A/N: **This chapter is dedicated to prin69 because she had a crappy day.**

Chapter 19

Gaheris had been unable to pry any more information out of Apollo because Nara had always seemed to be around. The blue female was reminding him of a Nazi from Earth. Most people would have felt sorry for her after hearing about her sister, but hey, Gaheris is a Nietzschean and doesn't feel sorry for most people.

We're here," Apollo announced from the cockpit. Gaheris picked up Veghn and left the room where they had been playing with blocks. He joined Trance out in the hall.

"Mommy okay?" Veghn asked, seeing his mother.

Trance smiled tiredly at the boy. "I'm fine, baby," she told the child.

Veghn accepted this answer even though he didn't seem to believe it. Gaheris was struck by how perceptive Veghn was. "You don't look fine," Gaheris said reproachfully. "Did you sleep at all?"

Trance shook her head no. "I'll be fine," she repeated. "Don't worry."

"We're about to be judged by people who aren't happy with you," Gaheris said. 'Aren't happy' was a bit of an understatement. "And you don't think I should be worried? Come _on_, Trance, I'm a Nietzschean, and at the risk of sounding stereotypical, it's rather anti-survival not to be worried at a time like this."

Trance didn't have an answer for that.

"Welcome to the Home," Apollo announced. He retracted the viewscreen, revealing a window like the one on Andromeda's Obs Deck, except on a much smaller scale. "You're the only Nietzschean to ever lay eyes on it.""

"It's beautiful," Gaheris whispered at seeing the huge nebula that was the Home. Roiling, colorful gases formed shapes, rather like clouds, giant pillars and animals. In the middle of the nebula in stark contrast to the gases was a space station made of a bright silvery metal.

"How big is that?" Gaheris asked, pointing at the station.

"Big," Apollo replied. "The size of a large planet."

"How do you keep it suspended in the middle of the nebula?" Gaheris asked.

"Enough questions," Nara snapped. Gaheris was developing a strong dislike of this blue female. "Apollo, take us in."

---------------------

Whispers followed them as Nara led them through the station. Gaheris and Trance were walking side by side, and once again Gaheris was carrying Veghn. Trance had dressed Veghn in a matte-black jumpsuit, and his bright brown eyes darted everywhere, not wanting to miss a thing. He waved at a couple people a few times, but no one waved back at the child except Apollo, and it turned into sort of a game between the silver child and the green male. Apollo was bringing up the rear.

There were humanoids of all the colors of the rainbow, and every so often Gaheris would see someone who was a strange sort of white. He assumed they were in the ultraviolet spectrum. There were few gold avatars like Trance and even less silver avatars, and Gaheris made a mental note to ask Trance about it later.

Nara led them over bridges and through gardens and parks. It was truly amazing; like a drift, only better. "This is it," Nara said finally, stopping in front of huge gray stone doors. There were runes or letters of some kind carved on them in gold. "Apollo and I will leave you now."

"Good luck," Apollo said, smiling. "I'll be waiting for you when the trial is over." 'Trial' was not spoken with the aura of horror surrounding it, so Gaheris assumed this would simply be _a_ trial, and that whether or not he and Trance would end up _going_ to Trial would be decided here. Apollo and Nara walked away, Apollo taking a seat on a stone bench facing a small pond in one of the many gardens not far from the doors. Nara walked in the other direction without giving Gaheris, Trance, or Veghn a backward glance.

Trance reached out a hand toward the doors, then stopped. "Gaheris, let me do all the talking," she said quickly. She reached out again and stopped again. "Veghn, best behavior," she added.

A subdued "Yes, Mommy," came from the child. Veghn squirmed and Gaheris put him down, thankfully giving his numb arm a break.

Trance took a deep breath, then reached out toward the doors. They opened with the slightest touch, and Trance stood in the doorway and waited. Gaheris could see nothing in the chamber ahead, and he and Veghn waited silently beside Trance, Veghn holding Gaheris's hand.

"_Minnailye_," announced a rich, rolling voice, and Trance walked into the room. Gaheris remained a pace behind her, giving Trance center-stage as the room was immediately was lit from within by soft silver and golden lighting.

There were four figures sitting in front of them. Two were golden like Trance, one male and one female. The other two were silver, not silver like Veghn but more of a darker hue like all the others of that color he had passed. Gaheris finally decided the only way he could describe it was _older_. There was one male and one female of the silver avatars as well.

The gold male was obviously the leader; he was the one who had spoken. "_Minnelye i sammath ello i anari ar isili. Si i Omentielvo lastath ar tuluva van lye ambar._" He looked at Trance, then Gaheris, then finally Veghn, who whimpered slightly and wrapped his tail around Gaheris's leg.

Trance looked straight ahead at the leader. "_Nan Trance Gemini. Hi na Gaheris Rhade. I hin na im ion, Veghn Rhade_." She hesitated. "_Quetain Common an Gaheris ar Veghn?_" she asked, but for all Gaheris knew Trance could have just asked the gold male if he wanted to get some pizza. He had caught 'Trance Gemini', 'Veghn Rhade', 'Gaheris Rhade', and 'Common' but that was about it.

The leader nodded, and to Gaheris's relief spoke Common with a slightly different accent; not unpleasant, just different. "Trance Gemini, Gaheris Rhade, and Veghn Rhade, you are brought before the Meeting because once again you have disrupted the natural order of life. What do you say?"

"Once again, all I can say is that I love him,' Trance replied. "Love cannot be explained or controlled. You know better than I the universe works in mysterious ways."

"An excuse," the silver female accused, leaning forward to study Veghn. To his credit Veghn stood fast and matched the female's stare. The child projected an air of absolute calmness ahead of his age, but the older Nietzschean male could tell he was scared from the way his tail squeezed Gaheris's leg harder. "The child is a _half-Nietzschean avatar_," she continued. "We cannot let this go unpunished."

Trance's breath caught in her throat, but she continued looking ahead calmly.

"I agree, Altariel," the golden female said. "We do not know how this will affect the perfect possible future."

"Yavie, he is a _child_," the silver male said, and Gaheris sensed a possible ally.

"His birth has already caused ripples and disturbances across this universe," the silver female, Altariel, announced. "Dagnir, it is unheard of."

"Among our people the child will be an outcast," the gold male pointed out, not taking sides either for or against Veghn.

"I say Trance Gemini must be punished," Yavie said firmly. "This must _never_ happen again."

"You do not know what he is the avatar of, do you?" Dagnir, the silver male, directed the question at Trance.

Trance shook her head. "Veghn was born mere days ago, and I do not know yet."

Gaheris's eyebrows furrowed slightly, and he added that to the list of things he'd ask Trance later. Veghn's eyes darted around, studying each of the people's faces before looking down and shuffling his feet.

"The Meeting will discuss what will become of you," the leader said, and the four avatars closed their eyes, obviously communing mentally.

Gaheris picked Veghn up, letting the child wrap his hands and tail around his arm. "What did Dagnir mean by 'avatar of'?"

"Not everyone is a Sun avatar," Trance explained, her watchful gaze not leaving the four avatars. "There are also Moon avatars and Planet avatars. There are symbolic colors for what avatar one is. Gold is Sun, silver is Moon, and the other colors in between are Planets."

"But moons are not silver," Gaheris just felt like pointing out.

"Like I said, _symbolic_ colors," Trance replied.

"Veghn is silver," Gaheris pointed out. "Does that not make him a Moon avatar?"

"I chose that color for him," Trance said. "That is why you noticed the difference between the silver avatars here and Veghn's color. When avatars are in the womb, the mother chooses the color they will be until the Time of Ascension, when an avatar discovers what he will represent, and also where that celestial body will be. Dagnir thought that because Veghn was silver, his Rite had already been completed. That is why I chose the tip of his tail to be black, so if someone looked close enough he or she could tell he has not passed Rite yet."

"Why are there not many silver or gold avatars?" Gaheris asked. "On the walk over I only saw a few."

"Sun avatars hold the highest positions and command the greatest respect because there are so few of us. Moon avatars are rare, despite the enormous number of moons in this universe; there are not many avatars. They are beings of great mystery and subtlety. Sun avatars are usually the epitome of goodness and light, and Planet avatars are stable and loyal. I guess to put it how a Nietzschean would understand it, you could say those characteristics are genetic. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule, as with all being-"

"We have reached a decision," the gold male announced, opening his eyes. "It is not one we have made lightly."

"I am prepared to accept the consequences of my actions, and will follow the Meeting's judgement," Trance replied, eyes looking straight forward.

Gaheris suddenly had a sinking feeling in his gut that this was not going to end well. Veghn squeezed his tail around Gaheris's arm, obviously anxious.

"The Meeting has decided that Trance Gemini must undergo Trial."

Trance's breath caught in her throat, and she noticeably paled.

"If you should survive Trial, you, your mate, and your son may return to the _Andromeda Ascendant_ to continue guiding Dylan Hunt toward the perfect possible future." The gold male paused, and Gaheris squeezed Trance's hand in support.

"Should you not survive, your son's link will be severed, and he will be executed." Veghn's eyes widened, and Gaheris felt the tail around his arm tighten like a tourniquet. "Your mate will be tortured and put to death as punishment for siring the half-breed.

"The sentence shall pass in one month unless the Meeting decides differently," the gold male finished. "You may leave."

Trance remained standing there, shocked into immobility. Gaheris gave a gentle tug on her hand. "Let's go," he said softly. He pushed the stone doors open and left the dimness of that chamber behind them.

A/N: I don't know if anyone cares, but I took painstaking time to translate the Elvish into what I wanted to say. This is the translation (GM is gold male, T is Trance):

**GM:** "You may enter."----- "You have entered the chambers of the Suns and the Moons. Now the Meeting will listen and will come to pass your fate."

**T:** "I am Trance Gemini. This is Gaheris Rhade. The child is my son, Veghn Rhade."----- "May I speak Common for Gaheris and Veghn?" Sounds much better in Elvish, ya think?


	20. Telemachus admits

Reviews: 

**Iara:** good luck w/ your exams!

**prin69:** oh, love ya! so happy you like it!

**Maglenan Princess:** Sam, the monkeys came for me and wouldn't leave me alone! I have to go Rhade-hunting tomorrow, I ran out of time.

**L.C. Brotherton: **I would never waste a Rhade! Just ask my buddy Sam: I'm going Rhade-hunting on E-bay tomorrow, HOORAY!

**Jamieson Z:** eeee, 40 hours, no sleep? you poor girl!

**Dancing Princess: **gotta go samancha!

For vampiregirl081 

Chapter 20

Telemachus stood alone in the Obs Deck. He clenched the railing and gazed out into space, maybe hoping that if he stared long enough the slipfighter with his sister would jump out of Slipstream. He focused on one area of space and took a deep breath, held it for four beats, then slowly let it out. He had found references to this breathing exercise in several old Earth manuscripts, and after repeating it a few times he already felt calmer and more relaxed. He heard the door hiss open, and he lost count of the breathing exercise. The muscles in his back tensed up again.

"Hey. You okay?" Beka came around behind him, draping her arms over his shoulders and resting her head on his collarbone.

"I'm worried," Telemachus admitted as Beka started massaging his stiff muscles.

"About what?"

"Atlanta, or I suppose she's known as Jade now," Telemachus said. "I thought she was dead for all this time, then I speak with her on the radio. Then she's sucked into a Slip portal to who-knows-where, and-"

"You're afraid you won't hear from her ever again," Beka finished.

Telemachus nodded, then looked over his shoulder and smiled gratefully at Beka. "That feels good."

"Good. It was supposed to," Beka responded with a touch of dry humor. "Don't worry about your sister. Rommie already has plotted their most likely course, and as soon as the shapeshifter gets here with our Slipstream drive we're going to head out after them." She patted his shoulders. "Let's go for a walk or something."

"When is Terla supposed to get here with our Slip drive?" Telemachus asked as he and Beka walked down the corridor together.

"Soon," Beka replied, threading her way through a group of people who had just come off duty. "Then Harper just needs to align it with the rest of the Slipstream Core."

"Sounds complicated," Telemachus noted. "One of many reasons why I never became a mechanic."

"What's another one?" Beka asked.

"Whenever you have a problem you can't just shoot through it like you can in the High Guard." Telemachus answered. "And I didn't like the uniform."

"You're out of uniform now," Beka noted.

"What?" Telemachus looked down at what he was wearing. "So? I'm off duty. And you never wear a uniform, anyway."

"I meant the hair and the beard," Beka clarified.

Telemachus shrugged. "Until I get a direct order, I'm keeping it," he told her. "And I like my hair this way."

"It's very sexy," she said, and her smile was more than friendly.

"How sexy?" Telemachus whispered in her ear.

Beka ran her tongue over her lips suggestively and hit a button on the wall next to a door, revealing the interior of her quarters. The she threw herself at him, forcing her tongue through his lips with an animal passion reminding Telemachus of a Nietzschean. Beka slowly pushed him into her quarters, and Andromeda shut the door behind them, respectfully engaging privacy mode.

----------------

"Feel free to do that more often," Telemachus breathed in Beka's ear later.

"Oh, don't worry, I will," Beka replied, rolling over to kiss him again. "Now that I got you, I'm not letting you go."

Telemachus laughed and pulled her close, once again telling himself how lucky he was.

"You never answered my question back on Pierpont," Beka said.

Telemachus kissed her bare shoulder. "And what would that be?"

"Are you going to make me share you with other women? Rhade, do you have a wife and children back on Terazed?" Beka felt his body tense up next to hers. "Just tell me the truth. Yes or no?"

"Not anymore," Telemachus admitted softly, sadly. "I had a wife and three children."

Beka was shocked. She had never imagined Rhade had children... but then she caught a word. "What do you mean, 'had'?"

"They're dead," Telemachus replied shortly. With that he rolled out of bed and started pulling his clothes on.

"Rhade, wait," Beka called as he opened the door and disengaged privacy mode that Andromeda had been kind enough to activate. Telemachus didn't answer; the door hissing shut behind him.

------------------

"Andromeda, where's Rhade?" Beka demanded. She had grabbed a red satin bathrobe because it was the middle of the sleep cycle and wasn't worried about anyone seeing her. Now she was standing in the hall outside her quarters, and Andromeda was being very tight-lipped.

"Commander Rhade asked not to be disturbed," Andromeda's hologram repeated.

"Don't make me go searching through every one of your goddamn rooms," Beka threatened.

Andromeda remained impassive, standing with her arms crossed over her chest.

"God_dammit_, Andromeda!" Beka exclaimed, stamping her foot in an uncharacteristic display of temper. "I just want to know where the hell Rhade is!"

"Why?" The hologram asked calmly. A passing crewmember coming off the night shift looked oddly at Beka, standing in the middle of the hall in a bathrobe arguing with the hologram, then shook her head and moved on.

"I think I upset him," Beka admitted. "And I wanted to find out if we can still salvage our relationship."

"Salvaging is what you're best at, isn't it," Andromeda noted.

Beka decided to take that as a compliment. "Will you _please_ just tell me where he is?"

The hologram disappeared. Just as Beka was about to scream in frustration and probably wake up half the ship thinking there was a Magog attack in the process, Andromeda's voice came floating through the corridor. "Obs Deck," she said. "But you didn't hear it from me."

A/N: Will Beka and Rhade be able to salvage their relationship, or will echoes of his past force Rhade away from Beka? Stay tuned... :P


	21. Nefatari Rhade

A/N: **I think I'm the first person to give Rhade's wife a name, so let me explain the method to my madness**. I LOVE ancient Egypt, and I was watching a show about Rameses II. (Don't think I spelled that right, but what gives?) His wife's name was Nefatari, and I thought it'd be a nice Nietzschean name. It's pronounced Nef-uh-TAR-ee.

Chapter 21

Beka headed straight to the Observation Deck after finishing her conversation with Andromeda, hoping Telemachus wasn't angry with her. She was still reeling from the fact that Telemachus had had a wife, with kids, no less. She wondered if anyone else knew.

Probably not, she decided. Rhade seemed to have done his best to forget about it until she had brought it up. Thankfully, the door to the Obs Deck was open, and Beka crept in as quietly as she could. She didn't see Rhade anywhere; maybe Andromeda had told him she was coming and he had left.

No, there, silhouetted against the window in the Obs Deck was Rhade. He was sitting on the shelf running along the bottom with his knees pressed up against his chest and his back to the wall, had against the window. "Go away," he said without looking away from the stars. "I want to be alone, if you don't mind."

"But what about me?" Beka asked. "What if _I_ don't want to be alone?"

Telemachus didn't answer, looking out at he bright pinpoints of light against the black curtain of space. "Can't you just let me have some time to think?" he requested finally.

"Sure." Beka made it almost thirty seconds before moving to sit on the ledge next to him.

"Time to think _alone_," Telemachus clarified. But he made no move to shove Beka away.

Beka didn't answer, letting the silence fill the room. She did not know how long they sat there; she could feel herself growing drowsy. Eventually she fell asleep, head pillowed on his shoulder.

Ever so gently so as not to wake her, Telemachus put his arm around her as memories of his past came rushing into his mind, and it seemed as if he was watching himself on a viewscreen.

Telemachus was watching himself in his memories. He was walking down one of Terazed's streets when a scream broke out from an alley. Always too noble for his own good, Telemachus ran to see a Nietzschean female being held at gunpoint by a group of thugs. Telemachus could see she was tensing to attack, so he created the necessary diversion.

"_Hey!" he yelled, delivering a quick uppercut to one of the men's throat. As the thugs turned toward this new threat, the female exploded into action with a dizzying blur of punches and kicks. Working together, Telemachus and the female took down the assailants, leaving them for the authorities to pick up later._

_The female brushed a lock of dirty-blonde hair out of her eyes and smiled at Telemachus. "So, who's my valiant rescuer?"_

_Telemachus was taken by her dazzling smile and beautiful face. "I am Telemachus Rhade, out of Majoram by Rhade."_

"I am Nefatari Kayleen, out of Sirius by Kayleen." She offered him her arm. "Would you escort me home?"

Telemachus ran his thumb over the green metal of his Helix. Nefatari had given it to him on the night of passion that had elevated him to the status of husband and father. His family had loved Nefatari, especially his sister, Atlanta. Nefatari worked at one of the orbital stations around Terazed, and she would often let Atlanta sit in one of the slipfighters and pretend to pilot. His three children, two daughters and a son would always work together to see what mischief they could get into. Telemachus could honestly say that those were the happiest days of his life.

Then it had all come crashing down. Nefatari had taken the children and Atlanta to the station where she worked one day, and pirates came. They attacked four of Terazed's twelve orbital stations, one of which was the one where Nefatari worked. When the pirates boarded the station, they gave no regard to anyone's life, whether man, woman, or child. His oldest daughter was hit by a stray laser blast and killed; his son was instantly killed when scrap metal collapsed on him. Nefatari and his youngest daughter became separated from Atlanta by that same pile of collapsed wreckage, never to be seen again and assumed dead. Nefatari ran into a group of pirates as she led her daughter and a group of other people toward the escape pods. Nefatari had shouted for the others to take her daughter and get to an escape pod, diving for a Gauss pistol next to one of the dead guards. Nefatari was mercilessly cut down by the pirates, who then opened fire on the people. Telemachus's daughter was hit multiple times, but she still managed to get to an escape pod. She later died of her wounds in one of Terazed's hospitals.

Telemachus squeezed the Helix and tightly closed his eyes against the tears. When he opened them again, a single tear rolled down his cheek. He pressed the Helix to his forehead and wept, letting his tears fall freely.

Beka woke a short time later and she said nothing, just wrapped her arms around her love and hugged him for support.

A/N: good? Bad? Please review, I wanna know what y'all think about Nefatari and the children.


	22. Terla AGAIN?

Chapter 22

"Dylan, I'm detecting a Slipstream event," Andromeda's hologram announced, appearing next to Dylan's desk.

Dylan, glad from the respite from the paperwork pushed it aside. "Friendly or hostile?" he asked.

"Friendly," Andromeda said, breaking into a smile. "It's the _Dusky Rose_."

--------------------

Terla walked down the _Rose's_ ramp to cheers from the members of the crew who had dropped by the hanger, almost fifty people. She had done some tricky maneuvering and guided the Slip drive into place, ao all the engineers had to do was hook it up, and Andromeda would be Slipstream-capable again. Terla was in her form as Liara, except she now appeared twenty compared to her earlier form as eight years old.

She was greeted by the senior officers as the others dispersed to their duties. "Harper is already working on the Slipstream Core?" Terla asked, noting Harper's absence. "Where is Trance?"

"Not here," Dylan answered. "I can't thank you enough for delivering the Slipstream drive."

"It wasn't exactly easy," Terla said. "But it's one small step toward repaying my debt." She hesitated. "May I ask a favor?"

"Shoot," Beka said.

"Can I join the crew?"

Silence.

"I have a lot of skills," Terla added quickly. "Obviously the ability to shapeshift, along with the magic I wield. I wouldn't eat much, and I can sleep on the _Rose_-"

"Let me discuss this with the rest of the senior officers," Dylan said finally.

"Having a shapeshifter on board could be a very good thing," Telemachus noted in a low tone. "An I believe what she told Beka and me; she won't betray us again."

"Plus, she has abilities I can't explain," Rommie added. "When she teleported into the Slipstream Core, I could not detect tesseracts or anything."

"And she sure as hell used magic on me," Beka said. "Ropes that turned into snakes, paralysis-"

"Would she use that against us?" Dylan asked.

Beka and Telemachus looked at each other. "I don't think so," Beka said finally.

"I agree," Telemachus added.

"Alright, what do you think, Rommie?"

"She would be a powerful ally," the android noted. "And the addition of another low-profile cargo ship besides the _Maru_ would be good."

"Okay." Dylan turned to face Terla. "All right you can join. But-" he held up a hand to keep her from talking. "You're going to have to take orders from me, and if you betray us again..."

Terla nodded solemnly. Her voluminous purple robes morphed into a Commonwealth uniform similar to Rhade's. "Private Terla reporting for duty, Cap'n Hunt."

--------------

"Hey, Dylan," Harper appeared on the viewscreen in Command. "Just thought you might want to know that me and my team of _highly_ talented engineers have connected the new Slipstream drive. Rhade, we're going to find your sister." Harper paused. "Is she hot?"

Dylan cut the transmission and looked behind him to see Telemachus grinning uncontrollably, and Beka break into a huge smile. She pulled down the Slipstream controls. "Rommie, you got the slipfighters' course for me, right?"

"Affirmative," Rommie replied, and a complex grid of Slip points appeared on the viewscreen.

Dylan's face fell. "Beka, can you handle all that?"

Beka gripped the controls with fresh determination. "Let's bring it," she ordered, and _Andromeda_ jumped into Slipstream.

Telemachus kept his eyes trained on the Slipstream route. Time elapsed, five minutes, then half an hour, then forty-five minutes, and with each passing minute Telemachus's hope lessened. Slipfighters were not built for long times in the 'Stream. Stay in past the roughly two-hour time limit and one of two things will happen; the fighter's outer hull will collapse from the pressure, or the Slipstream drive will melt down from the strain.

Finally _Andromeda_ jumped out of Slipstream. Rommie announced that her sensor scans detected only the wreckage of one slipfighter and nothing else.

"Where are they?" Telemachus whispered.

A/N: Where did they go, George, where did they go? :P Sorry, I just had a Loony Tunes moment. Depressingly short, but I thought that was a good time to leave off. We're approaching the end of '_Echoes of the Past_', only a few more chapters to go!


	23. Slipfighter pilots! YAY!

Reviews:

**vampiregirl081:** oh, so happy you liked it!

**Jamieson Z: **yeah, I love Egypt! I just kinda spelled it phonetically, so I really didn't know how it was spelled. Oops! yes, there will be a sequel! I already finsished this fanfic in my notebook, and I'm already working on my sequel, Night of a New Dawning.

**Vee017: **yeah! that's the show! w/ Amon-hir-kapishef! yeah! no, no, no! chapter 25 is more Rhade/Beka/nefatari, so don't worry!

**Iara:** love ya! still can't reply 'cause I can't be on the internet long, but I present the project tomorrow! YAY!

**eris:** a friend told me if you search for 'Rhade action figure' on Ebay, you'll find one. I'm too busy to check it out ,myseslf, could you do it for me?

**L.C. Brotherton: **yay, love ya! yes, there will be a sequel, Night of a New Dawning

**Mo Cat: **Good luck!

**prin69: **don't worry, there'll be a sequel!

**DancingQueen: ** s'ok, I know what a pain puppys can be!

Chapter 23 (few days earlier)

Jade Rhade gripped the controls of her slipfighter and braced herself as the pull of the Slipstream portal proved too much for her little fighter. Her slipfighter was pulled into Slipstream.

Jade bit her lip to keep from screaming as her controls refused to respond, sending her careening off the sides of the Slip tunnel. She could feel what she had eaten earlier rising in her throat, and she swallowed against it; knowing from previous experience that throwing up in an enclosed cockpit was not fun. She pulled at her controls, begging them to unstick. Jade could feel the temperature in the slipfighter rising as her Slipstream drive began overheat sooner than expected because of the incredible jostling that it was going through.

Her controls responded, and Jade squeezed them tighter before reminding herself to keep a light touch on the controls. Eventually she steadied her fighter's course, and the heat in the cockpit began to subside as the engine cooled down. She blew a drop of sweat of the tip of her nose as the heat began rising again soon after. Jade knew she had to get out of Slipstream soon before either her slipfighter shut down, exploded, or melted. None of those possibilities appealed to the Nietzschean female.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Jade was violently catapulted from Slipstream. Her fighter tumbled end over end as she desperately tried to slow her momentum. She pulled back hard on her controls, bringing the slipfighter to a complete stop. "Motherfuck," Jade whispered as everything shut down with a _whir_, leaving her in complete darkness. Then the emergency lights flickered on, bathing her in a yellow-orange light. Jade was hanging alone in space with no way to defend herself or move. She was alone in the darkness. Jade took deep breath to calm herself.

Then another slipfighter was hurled from Slipstream; heading at full, uncontrollable speed directly at Jade! Jade quickly started flipping switches for a manual start. "Motherfuck, motherfuck, motherfuck," she muttered frantically; a collision at that speed would vaporize both her and the other fighter. Her engines whined feebly, and then the little lights next to the override switches turned red. "Come on, come on," Jade urged, glancing up worriedly at the other fighter heading straight for her. She flipped the switches off, then on again. Nothing, not even a flicker of energy. Jade squeezed her eyes shut tight and reflexively hunched forward against the coming impact.

At the last second the other fighter pulled up, zooming over Jade. The backwash from the engines spun her slipfighter around in a complete circle; Jade couldn't help it, she laughed in relief and tried to control her trembling. She took a deep breath and focused on getting her slipfighter up and running again.

One after another nine more slipfighters came roaring out of slipstream. One of them was corkscrewing wildly and its engines were smoking. The slipfighter exploded, and with chill Jade realized it might have been her. The ten slipfighters hung in space, some showing obvious signs of damage, others only having internal damage.

"Right, Jade," she muttered to herself. "Fix radio, fix engine, fix weapons." She looked at the nine other fighters. "Radio," she decided, unbuckling her harness and popping open a metal plate in her control panel.

--------------------

Roughly an hour later, Jade wearily pushed the plate back in place. She switched on her radio, pleading for it to work. "This is Jade calling other fighters. Can anyone hear me? Over." Silence. "Repeating: this is Jade. Can anyone read me; over."

"Hotshot here, Jade," the welcoming sound of Corrin's voice floated through the comm.

"Smarty also here," the Perseid male announced. "I don't think the others' radios are working yet."

"Mine is," said a male voice. "It's Ace. Do you think the others are working on their Slip drives or radios?"

"Oenone's up and running," Jade announced, surveying her battle map. "She didn't sustain much damage. Neither did Blondie nor Tuna."

Eventually everyone was running at full power, having diverted enough power so that they could limp to another system. Communicating over the radio, no one bothered to use call signs since there wasn't another ship for light-years.

"Jade, why didn't you ever tell me who you really were?" Nuria asked in a hurt tone. "I thought we were friends."

"I'll answer all questions later," Jade said. "Right now we need to focus on other issues. Where are we going to go?"

"I don't know about the rest of you," Cynthia said. "But I've got about an hour's worth of oxygen left in my fighter, if not less."

Jade cursed, wishing there were some kind of device in slipfighters that would convert carbon dioxide to oxygen.

"Anybody have ideas?" Corrin asked. "I don't know how long the jury-rigging on my engine will hold up."

"I know where we can go," Achilles announced. "Before my parents were... murdered, they were exceedingly wealthy. All their possessions were passed down to me. I've already checked the coordinates; a short Slip hop from here is the hollowed-out asteroid I inherited. As far as I know, it's still deserted."

"Define 'short'," Winter requested.

"Fifteen, twenty minutes in the 'Stream," Achilles replied. "The hanger will be large enough to house our ten slipfighters."

"Yes, that's something I've been meaning to ask," Corrin mused. "Who's with us? I only know a few of your names; would everyone please list their names?"

"Nuria Fatima out of Sierra by Tallis."

"Achilles Kadon out of Sabra-Jaguar by Kadon.

"Cynthia Valerie, from Earth."

"Emmy Baut from Pierpont Drift."

"Clear Running Water, a highly amusing and easily confused Than from Mobius. Just call me Tuna."

"Xena Teraskasi, out of Ursa by Teraskasi."

"Giani Senzar, from Sinti," now finally Jade had a name to connect to the Perseid pilot.

"Corrin Larkan, from Savion."

Jade hesitated. "Jade Rhade, out of Majoram by Rhade," she admitted.

"Achilles, send those coordinates," Xena ordered. "I have no desire to die of lack of oxygen."

--------------

It looked like an unremarkable asteroid, but Jade followed Achilles's slipfighter as he skimmed the surface. She labored to draw breath, for the air had become as thick as molasses, and could only imagine how the humans felt.

Emmy was seeing black spots dancing in her vision, and she felt so sleepy as she gasped for air. "No. Must-stay-awake," she muttered. But her body gave into the lack of oxygen, and Emmy fell into a deep slumber. She was never to wake again as her slipfighter banked downward, heading at an angle that would send her crashing directly into the asteroid's surface.

"Emmy? Emmy!" Jade shouted. "Pull up! Pull_ up_, motherfuckit!"

Emmy's slipfighter impacted nose first against the asteroid, exploding into fiery pieces of molten metal.

"Oh God," Cynthia breathed. "Achilles, can we land soon?"

-------------------

As soon as she landed her slipfighter and the hanger was repressurized, Jade immediately popped her canopy, breathing heavily as finally fresh oxygen filled her lungs. She climbed down, fighting the dizziness from breathing so little oxygen for such a long time. Jade could hear the other pilot's jumping down, all eight.

Achilles spread his arms wide to encompass the entire asteroid. "Welcome to Kadon Base."

A/N: I dunno if I'll be uploading before Christmas, so if I don't:

**MERRY CHRISTMAS/ HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM THE JADE RHADE!!**


	24. Exile Squadron

A/N: special thanks to Maglenan Princess for typing these for me over Christmas break! I gave her my notebook and asked her to type them up for me, and she did! LOVE YA, SAM!! Thanks to everyone for your patience, Sam finally got around to typing these for me. **Remember when I said I was ending it soon? Well... I lied. I'm at chapter 30 in my notebook with no sign of stopping!**

Typed by Maglenan Princess for Jade- Have a 'Rhade-y' Christmas (Hey, megz, for the champagne, instead of writing champagne over and over-could I use a brand name?) no, that is NOT ok, but don't worry, I'll change it! Note: anywhere it says some weird name that sounds Italian or something, it's Sam's way of saying champagne and I probably missed it while I was typing.

**vampiregirl081: **_:blushes_: oh, no really, I'm nothing special. _:scrapes toe against ground_: thanks so much!

**prin69: **nope, no sequel in sight, but plenty more EotP! Hey, don't worry about it, I was too lazy to stand in line for patience, too!

**Maglenan Princess: ** and here we go yet again with the Phantom! does he never go away?

**Anastashia: **_:scratches head:_ eh? I think I kinda get what you're trying to say, but I'm easily confused. could you try to explain that again... wait, never mind, halfway through typing this review, I suddenly got it! thanks so much, keep reviewing please? you'll correct me if I make another mistake like that, right?

**Iara: **k, I feel all caught up! I e-mailed u _and_ uploaded! WAH, have to go back to skool tomorrow!

**eris:** see ya then!

**Vee017:** oh, Rhade-shaped cookie! YUM! _:acts like Cookie Monster from Sesame Street:_ ME WANT COOKIE!!k, sorry 'bout that... anyhow, Jade explains the whole Atlanta vs. Jade thing in this chapter. I'm so happy you like my Ocs!! I know a lot of peeps don't like Ocs, but try and stop me, I do them anyhow! glad you like Jade and Achilles!

**Jamieson Z: **how'd you do on your exams? so happy you've finally got a break!

Chapter 24

"This is amazing, Achilles," Cynthia announced as the mentioned Nietzschean lead the pilots on a tour of Kadon Base.

"Thank you," Achilles responded, smiling at the Earther female. "These are the guest quarters," he indicated widely spaced doors along the hallway they had been walking down. "I've already had an android fill the closets in each with fresh clothes if you want to shower and get changed."

A ragged cheer burst from the pilots and Achilles told each of them which room theirs were.

Jade entered hers and closed the door behind her. It was a beautiful room; wide and spacious with a large king size bed, a walk-in closet, and a red marble bathroom-complete with matching marble hot tub. There were priceless works of art hanging on the walls, and on sudden impulse Jade reached down and unbuckled her boots and removed her socks. She walked around the room, taking luxury in the feel of the red carpet between her toes.

She flipped a few switches on the wall next to the hot tub, soon filling it with steamy, bubbly water.

Almost an hour later, Jade finally convinced herself to get out of the hot tub; realizing that the last time she'd felt this pampered was back when she had been living at home.

In the large, artificial wood armoire, Jade found an array of neatly hung clothes and a flexi. The flexi was a note from Achilles, saying dinner would be at twenty-hundred hours in the Observation room, dress was formal. There was a postscript at the bottom; 'Jade, "formal" means no leather'.

Jade checked the wall chrono, noting that she had more than an hour to get ready as she brushed her long brown hair. "What to wear, what to wear," she muttered shifting through the hangers in the closet. Regretfully she passed the black leather. "Maybe this," she selected a filmy purple gown and laid it on the bed. Jade bit her lip. "Or maybe this…" _Damn_, she'd never gotten to pick out expensive clothes for dinner before, and it was fun! When she'd go on dates with people from the Academy, she'd only been able to afford one nice dress.

Finally Jade had to make a final decision between a low-cut red gown or a slim, low-cut black gown with a slit running from the bottom up her thigh allowing freedom of movement. "Black," she finally decided, carefully putting the red one back in the closet.

------------------

Jade had once seen a holo of _Andromeda_'s Observation Deck, but that was nothing compared to Achilles' Obs Room. Fully, half the large room was covered in viewscreens projecting the image of outer space. There was a round table set in the center, with places for nine people.

"Jade, you look stunning, as always," Achilles greeted, walked over to bow and kiss her hand.

"You like old-school, huh?"

Achilles shrugged. "Something different," he explained.

"He's completely crazy," Corrin announced, walking in behind Jade. "Believes in 'honor' and 'duty'."

Jade raised an eyebrow. "A Nietzschean thinking about honor?"

"Kinda like you, then, huh, Jade?" Cynthia walked in, looking dazzling in a dark blue dress.

Jade flushed a little. "Sometimes," she admitted. "Though, that's not something most Nietzscheans are proud of. You know who you remind me of, Achilles?" Jade asked as the rest of the pilots filtered into the room and sat down. An android began serving some kind of poultry marinated in butter.

"Who would that be?" Achilles asked.

"My brother, Telemachus Rhade."

"Your brother is Telemachus Rhade?" Nuria gaped, nearly knocking over her champagne flute. Clear Running Water saved it from spilling champagne everywhere.

"That's who I was talking to over the radio, yes." Jade looked amused.

"I've always wanted to meet Telemachus Rhade," Xena mused. "I've heard he's extraordinarily attractive."

" 'Extraordinary' doesn't even begin to cover it!" Nuria announced. "He's got dark hair, deep, brown eyes-"

"You do remember that you're talking about my brother, right?"

Nuria's face fell. "Oh, yeah."

"What, drooling over Rhade isn't allowed in the presence of his sister-?" Cynthia asked sarcastically.

Jade groaned, "Not you too!"

"Wow, I want to be this Rhade-guy," Corrin noted. "Wish I could have three chicks talk 'bout me like that!"

"Moving on," Giani said. "What are we to call you? Jade, or Atlanta?"

Jade hesitated, putting down her champagne flute. "Atlanta Rhade was a spoiled child," she announced. "I am not the girl I used to be, and I don't see why I should change my name again now."

"So why didn't you ever tell me who you were?" Nuria asked.

Jade groaned. "If I keep answering questions about me, then the rest of you have to tell your stories as well."

"Deal," Winter said.

"Obviously, I was raise as Atlanta Rhade," Jade said. "I was happy, my brother had a beautiful wife-"

"He's married?" Cynthia asked, face falling.

Jade groaned again. "I'm getting there! Telemachus's wife's name was Nefatari, and the one day she took me and her children up to see the orbital station she worked at.

"Pirates came, and I was separated from Nefatari and the children by a pile of wreckage. I would have to find my own way off since the escape pods were cut off from me. I snuck around inside the ventilation ducts until I reached the hangar. Almost all the ships were gone, with the exception of one slip fighter whose pilot had been killed.

"I had no choice. I got in and activated the fighter's control systems. Nefatari had shown me how earlier," Jade added seeing the questioning looks. "Not long after I took off, I was hit by a laser blast from the pirates' ship, and I crash-landed in the middle of a forest. Then I was raised by magical gnomes and a man named Bob the Mexican." (Don't ask, Gate of Heaven Skool thing)

Winter, who had just taken a sip of the champagne, snorted into the flute.

"Just kidding," Jade flashed a smile. "Actually, I made a living as a thief on one of Terazed's larger cities."

"Sounds adventurous," Corrin said, pushing his plate away.

"It's not what it's cracked up to be," Jade told him. "I've been shot at, assaulted, curse, and," her voice nearly broke, "raped. But I was strong, and I survived until I was old enough to enter the Academy."

"Jade, I'm so sorry-" Cynthia started.

"Don't be," Jade said, her voice almost normal again. "It's over, I made it. End of story."

"Why did you not go back?" Xena asked. "You could have spared yourself from that terrible living by simply returning home to your family."

"Despite the hardships, and there were many, I enjoyed unrestricted freedom. As I got older and more terrible things happened to me, I could not go back. I could not bring myself to reveal to my family the things I had stooped to."

Xena and Cynthia nodded in understanding.

Jade smiled. "Your turn," she told the others at the table.

"My story is unremarkable," Winter announced. "I basically jumped from job to job as a mechanic and AI programmer on my home world."

"I'm the daughter of a Nietzschean pilot, Tallis," Nuria said. "My mother was Sierra, one of the crewmembers on his cargo ship. Sierra chose Tallis, becoming his first female. I was born on Rarklash, a small moon in the Triangulum Galaxy. Their cargo ship was destroyed not long after, leaving me to be raised by humans who only knew my mother and father's first names, and my name. Eventually I gained passage to Terezed."

"I'm from Mobius," Clear Running Water said. "Don't really have much more than that."

"One question," Xena said. "Why is your call sign 'Tuna'?"

Clear Running Water chatted with amusement. "Kaysea Alantra had once asked me why all Than names have five syllables. When I explained it to her, she wanted to know whether a Than's name could be: 'Loves To Eat Tuna'. The name stuck."

The rest of the table laughed.

"Obviously, I'm a Perseid," Giani said. "From Sinti: Information archiving wasn't my thing, so I left."

"I had formerly worked for hire," Xena announced. "After assassinating an important Nietzschean Alpha to escape retribution, I joined the Academy."

"Savion was too low-tech for me," Corrin said. "So I decided to become the first space pilot from Savion."

"I was a slave in Boston when Seamus Zelazney Harper and _Andromeda_'s android Rommie initiated the slave revolt," Cynthia said softly. "During the confusion, I was able to steal a ship and sneak off world."

"My parents ran a thieving ring," Achilles said. " When a client was delivered a fake piece of artwork, he took revenge and killed my father and his three wives."

"Oops," Cynthia muttered.

"Well, that completes our little band," Giani said as an android took away their plates and placed some sort of white, fluffy cake in front of them. "What will the name of our squadron be?"

"Delta," Jade said immediately.

"Alpha," Corrin replied at the same time.

"How about an actual name instead of Greek letters?" Nuria suggested.

"Cake squadron?" Tuna said, lifting a forkful of the white cake.

"Not funny, Tuna," Jade replied.

"Death squadron?" Achilles suggested.

"Black squadron?"

"Ghost squadron?"

"Monkey squadron?"

"_NO_, Tuna!"

"Exile squadron?" a soft voice asked. Winter looked at the others.

"That's good," Corrin said. "I have no objection to being called that."

Jade raised her champagne flute in a toast. "To Exile Squadron, and to the ones who died allowing us to live: Kaysea Alantra, Shauna Du'lakar, Infinity Trigan, Lars Farseer, and Emmy Baut."

"To Exile Squadron," the others echoed.

A/N: Be patient, we return to the _Andromeda_ soon!


	25. Ghosts

A/N: about half of this was once again typed by the **Maglenan Princess**. Love ya, Sam!

**vampiregirl081: thanx!**

**prin69: yeah! power to the monkey-lovers! sorry, I HAD to have them obsess over Rhade! no, Bekers does _not_ seem to share very well... :P**

**Iara: I just thought the chicks & Rhade would just be a cute little scene just because I could! happy you love it!**

**eris: oh, yeah, that was one creepy episode. I don't remember the part about the monument, though, but that WAS a hard episode to watch. Poor Earth! anyhow, I had to have an Earther in the Squad somewhere, and Oenone (who no longer reviews for some odd reason) gave me that wonderful character.**

**Vee017: yeah, I'm gonna try to update more, now. oh, that makes me so happy! you have no idea how worrie di was that Jade would be percieved as a Mary Sue! Jade/Achilles is one of the three possible romances I have in mind for her; the others are Jade/Corrin and Jade/ other character that I won't reveal right now because I'm leaning toward him. HAPPY NEW YEAR!**

Chapter 25

_Ghostly gray figures swarmed around him. "Daddy?" came a girl's voice. "Daddy, why weren't you there? Daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy…"_

"Father?" asked a male voice. "Father, why didn't you come help us? Did you want us out of the way?"

"_Dad?" said an older female voice. "Dad, I needed you. You weren't there. Where were you?"_

"_Telemachus," came a grown female's voice. "Telemachus, I gave myself up for our children. Why did you not come? We died in vain. Telemachus, you betrayed me, betrayed our children. You could have saved us, but you didn't." _

_Their faces were around him, accusing him._

"No!" Telemachus bolted upright in hi bed breathing heavily. He had broken out in a cold sweat, and he rolled out of bed and over to the sink. Telemachus splashed his face with cold water. He felt hollow inside, like someone had reached deep inside him and ripped out his soul.

"Just a dream," he muttered, laughing quietly. He looked up at the mirror above the sink and saw the face of Nefatari looking back at him in silent accusation.

Telemachus blinked and shook his head; looking back up he saw his own face.

"What's wrong?" Beka asked from the bed behind him.

Telemachus turned and smiled at her. "Just a nightmare."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Telemachus shook his head quickly. "No, no, I don't." He hesitated. "Beka, I feel terrible about saying this..."

"What is it?" Beka sat up and looked at him; deep in the pit of her stomach she had a sinking feeling.

"Beka, please don't take this the wrong way; you are amazing, and I love you more than any other living being, but..." he trailed off.

"But what?" Beka asked warily.

"Please understand, I don't want to hurt you, but..."

"Spit it out."

Telemachus bit his lower lip. "I just... I can't. I just don't think I can have another relationship yet. The nightmares are returning, and I just don't think I'm ready. Can we still be friends?"

Beka blinked furiously and nodded, not wanting to cry in front of him. "I understand. I can't know what you're going through, but if you ever think you're ready... I'll be here."

Telemachus nodded gratefully. "Thank you, Rebecca. I'm sorry I cannot be the man you deserve." He opened his mouth like he was going to say something else, then closed it again. Without another word he activated the door. "I'm sorry," he whispered sadly as the door hissed shut in front of his face.

Beka waited for a minute, maybe more. Then she rolled over onto her side and cried into her pillow, soaking the cloth with warm, hot tears.

A/N: this is what happens when the Jade Rhade has a romance but has absolutely no idea what to do with it!


	26. Enduring Echoes

A/N: **Song by Jimmy Buffet**

L.C. Brotherton: hell, I wouldn't know! I'm 13, ok, and I don't even have a bf yet. (I do have a crush, through) all I could think of was to start almost al over again. oh, I wish Sam would type all my chapters for me, but this is the last one she DID type, so now I have to get off my lazy ass and actually type. :( oh, well.

**Beka Valentine Rhade: I tried that already, but I don't really want to do that with the whole Veghn thing going on. That's a great idea though! hey, there's this funny one-shot by my buddy Maglenan Princess where Rhade gets Beka pregnant. It's called 'Ice Cream' and it's really funny! oh, that's not good about the assignment; I bet you did good on it, though! what was it on?**

**eris: hey, that is a GREAT idea! _:gives eris e-hug:_ that's what I'm gonna do! Harper will come up to Rhade and tell him that! oh, you are the BEST! thanx TONS! but I think I'm going to drag out the angst until the last chapter, then it turns into a tragedy. dun-dun-dun! :P **

**prin69: I is evil person. this is my way of getting back at you for doing all that evil stuff in 'Home'. just kidding! I just didn't know what to do w/ it, so that's all I could come up with.**

**Iara: at this point, so do I! it depends on what my muse Mr. Smuggles tells me to do.**

**Vee017: _:cries:_ Rhade is completely faultless! _:whacks self on head:_ oops, sorry, just me instinctively taking the Rhade-side. you're right, but Rhade _thought_ that he was ready, but I guess that the memories were just too much to bear. this is when the ten years comes back and bites me in the ass for just picking a random number. thanks tons for the long review: I loved every sentence!**

**Maglenan Princess: love ya, sam!**

**Jamieson Z: you're back! _;gives Jamieson Z e-hug:_ aw, man! at least you have the break for a little longer; enjoy it while you can! yeah, the 'Tuna' call-sign backstory is actually true. I was explaining it to my one friend, Casey, and she wanted to know if 'Loves to Eat Tuna' was a possible name! no joke! honestly, no idea if they'll end up together by the end of EotP, but I don't think so. like I told eris, Beka/Rhade is mostly going to be angst from this point on until the tragedy at the end. _:gasps:_ I sis such an evil person! if you all knew what I'm going to do... _:evil grin:_**

Chapter 26

Apollo was waiting for them as Gaheris led Trance out of the Chambers of the Suns and Moons. Apollo took Veghn from Gaheris's arms and looked at the Nietzschean male questioningly. Gaheris nodded, and Apollo's cheerful face fell. He put a comforting arm around Trance.

"Come on," he said softly. "You can all stay in my quarters."

-----------

Trance had remained silent all through dinner, picking at it occasionally with her fork. Apollo was telling Veghn a story, being interrupted frequently by questions from the child.

"Trance, you should eat," Gaheris said in a low tone.

Trance smiled weakly. "I'm not hungry." She pushed her plate away, walking over to the large window, Apollo's quarters were on the outside of the station; so beyond that window was empty space. The rooms were sparse and clean, with plants scattered around and small, simple viewscreens projecting images on the walls.

Gaheris decided to finish his meal first. Not eating for four years kinda makes you not want to miss meals. Veghn was laughing as Apollo finished up his story.

"Can you do anything else?" Veghn asked, looking at Apollo with big brown eyes.

Apollo put his chin in his hand with an expression of exaggerated thinking.

"Hmmm," he mused, and Veghn laughed. "You have to close your eyes, okay?"

"Okay!" Veghn shut his eyes and covered them with his hands.

Apollo snuck around the child and pulled out a dark case. Gaheris looked at it, but he couldn't tell what it was. Apollo sat on the floor and opened the case, revealing an old Earth acoustic guitar. He strummed a few chords on it, and Veghn couldn't keep his eyes shut any longer. He opened his eyes and ran over to Apollo.

"Daddy, come sit!" Veghn ordered. "Mommy, you too!"

Gaheris and Trance smiled and walked over to sit with him, Gaheris hoisting Veghn into the air and setting him on his lap.

Apollo played a short, fast song that sounded like it was from an Earth region Gaheris couldn't remember.

"Mexico," Apollo answered, smiling in a very Trance-y way at Gaheris.

"Can you read my mind?" Gaheris asked.

"Sometimes I get flickers," Apollo replied. "But I'm not a full-fledged Avatar yet; I haven't had my Rite of Ascension yet. It should be soon, though."

"That's when you'll learn what Avatar you are?" Gaheris asked. He gave Trance a hug for no apparent reason.

Apollo nodded. "This is a song I've written for the crew of the _Andromeda_." He strummed a note or two and began to sing.

Gaheris held Trance and Veghn close to him.

"Enduring echoes call out from his past" 

Gaheris could see things in his mind. _Dylan was working with Harper on something in the Machine Shop._

"_Time ain't for savin'_

_no, time's not that."_

_Jade and the other pilots were sitting around a table._

"_Chasin' false echoes _

_like lost legionnaires."_

_Telemachus and Beka were standing alone, together in the Obs Deck._

"_He waltzes on memories_

_while he fades like a flare."_

Apollo put his guitar across his lap as silence filled the room.

**A/N:** this was going to be the end of 'Echoes of the Past', but it was too hard to continue directly from that point like I normally do w/ a sequel. Song by Jimmy Buffet, and the song line refers to the sentence(s) directly above it. In case you're confused, I'll say what each line is supposed to refer to.

"_Enduring echoes call out from his past" _**Gaheris**

"Time ain't for savin', no time's not for that" **Dylan/Harper/Rommie**

"Chasin' false echoes like lost legionnaires" **Jade/Exile Squadron**

"_He waltzes on memories while he fades like a flare"_ **Telemachus **


	27. Betrayal

**sticks-and-stones123**: this is your shining moment, Colleen!

**Iara**: you're welcome!

**Prin69: **nope, this chapterand all the other from now on are typed by me. Sadness. Who said Jade has Apollo? I never said that.

**Vee017:** you're right: Beka does deserve him, but not until the sequel to 'EotP'! at the end of this fic, it'll become a tragedy, and that's all I'll tell you... mwa-ha-ha!

**Eris:** I try, ok, I try. I no tell what the tragedy will be, though... :P

**L.C. Brotherton: **thanx tons!

**A/N:** my skool is seriously messed up. We had a late start today, so I got there at 10:00am. Then, about 45 minutes later, the power goes out, and we get sent out of skool at 12:00! So that's why y'all got a chapter today! But I'm gonna end up missing the 'X-Files' on SciFi tonight. Sadness. Oh well, I'll suffer. :P

Chapter 27

Winter was on her way to the Hanger to see how she could improve the Squadron's hastily done repairs. She felt rather out of place being the only Inari out of the nine pilots that made up the newly formed Exile Squadron.

"Hi, Xena," she greeted the Nietzschean female. All Winter received in response was a curt nod as Xena rudely brushed past her. Winter shook her head, muttering, "Nietzscheans" under her breath.

Xena walked quickly down the hall, not sparing a backward glance for the slighted Inari. She was heading for the Communications Room, and woe to anyone who stood in her way. Her calf-high leather boots clicked against the floor as she shoved the door open.

"Move!" she barked at Giani, who was fiddling with a viewscreen.

The Perseid quickly scurried out, obviously afraid of the Nietzschean female.

Xena waited until the sound of Giani's footsteps could no longer be heard, then shut the door. She reached up, running her fingers along the top of the metal walls until she found a slight indentation. Human eyes would not have been able to pick it out, but Xena's enhanced Nietzschean eyesight was able to pick out a slight dip in the metal. Xena pushed the middle of it, and a small square of metal plating fell away from the wall. She deftly caught it. In the space revealed by the falling plating, she could see a rat's nest of wires. With quick, practiced movements, Xena pulled a small, black tool equipped with a miniature viewscreen from her belt. Her fingers selected a green wire, and she clipped the tool onto the wire. Xena smiled as the image of the Comm Room came on the tiny screen.

--------------

In its heyday as a smuggler base, Kadon base had had at least three people watching the security monitors in the Sec Room at all times. The now empty Security Room was covered with viewscreens projecting images of all the rooms. Achilles was sparring against Jade, Giani was scurrying down a corridor, Winter was singing slightly off-key as she worked on a slipfighter, Cynthia was lounging in her room reading a flexi, and Nuria was in the swimming pool racing against Corrin whilst Tuna watched from the side. If anyone had been watching, they would have seen the image of Xena in the Comm Room wink out, replaced by a black screen with a blinking red ERROR message.

-----------------

Back in the Comm Room, Xena nearly laughed in triumph. She had doubted the override would work, but it had, and with no further delay she switched on the comm. She flipped the frequency over to the right setting. "This is Greek calling Roman," she said in a low tone.

"_Roman here_," replied a voice that had no gender whatsoever. Xena knew he or she was using a vocal scrambler to distort his or her voice. "_What's the word?_" No image appeared on the viewscreen, just blackness.

Xena hesitated. The pilots of Exile Squadron had accepted her without question, not treating her with the air of suspicion she usually received, but her mission was clear. "The word is good."

"_Good_," Roman said. "_My noble self-sacrifice_," he or she snorted. "_Did not raise suspicions as feared?_"

"No, it didn't," Xena replied. "They all consider you dead, giving your life up for the rest of us."

"_The fleet will be here in two days, at 0300 hours_," Roman said abruptly.

"I'll be ready. Greek out," Xena cut the transmission and walked back over to the exposed wiring. She unclipped her override and replaced it on her belt, bolting the plating back into place.

---------------

In the Sec Room, the viewscreen for the Communications Room flickered back on, showing Xena using a cloth to wipe away her fingerprints on the walls. There was no hint of remorse on her face as she left.

**A/N:**Ok, I dropped two hints in this chapter as to whom Roman is: a smart person hint and a dumb person hint. The dumb person hint is that it's a member of Exile Squadron presumed dead. I'm wondering if anyone will pick up on the smart-person hint: I guarantee, once you get it, you'll feel very smart! This is the list of Exile Squad pilots in case you want to hazard a guess: (Supposedly dead, and I'll list the chapter)

Jade Rhade out of Majoram by Rhade (Majoram Pride, Terazed)- 'Jade' (F)

Corrin Larkan, human (Savion)- 'Hotshot' (M)

Xena Teraskasi out of Karina by Hector (Ursa Pride)- 'Callisto' (F)

Achilles Kadon out of Maria by Apollo (Sabra-Jaguar Pride)- 'Ace' (M)

Nuria Fatima out of Sierra by Tallis (Rarklash)- 'Fire's Prophet' (F)

Clear Running Water 'Tuna', Than (Mobius)- 'Tuna' (M)

Cynthia Valerie, human (Earth)- 'Oenone' (F)

Giani Senzar, Perseid (Sinti)- 'Smarty' (M)

Winter Sharn, Inari- 'Storm' (F)

/Kaysea Alantra, human (Earth)- 'Viper' (F)/ (chap16)

/Shauna Du'lakar out of Liona by Ulassim (Drago-Katsov Pride, Earth)- 'Venus' (F)/ (chap16)

/Infinity Trigan, human (Unknown)- 'Moses' (M)/ (chap16)

/Emmy Baut, human (Pierpont Drift)- 'Blondie' (F)/ (chap23)

ok, start guessing! (answer will be revealed in chap29) **does anyone know the home world of the Ursa Pride?** I know it's mentioned somewhere in that book by Keith DiCandio 'Destruction of Illusions', could someone find out for me please?


	28. Beginning

**A/N: NOTE TO EVERYONE WHO REVIEWS!!!** I'm having some trouble here. if I were to choose from Exile Squadron only, who should I put w/ Jade: Corrin or Achilles? **PLEASE TELL ME WHO YOU THINK!**

**Vee017:** why does everyone blame the poor Dragan? oh well, we'll find out next chapter! Beros Prime: thanks tons! I no tell who tragedy is because I evil mean fanfic writer! :P

**eris:** s'ok, I got it anyhow.

**Jamieson Z: **oh, keep wirting reviews like that! I love it! wow, you're the only one to get the smart person hint! _:gives Jamieson Z a hug:_ YAY! you'll never believe this: when I was originally writing up Exile Squadron (which originally had a full 24-member squadron) I just picked a random name for Xena's pride. then I'm reading Dest. of Illusions, and I find out that there actually IS an Ursa Pride, and I'm like: wow. thatw as just a weird coincidence, and Venus is just the call-sign that my buddy Maglenan Princess wanted as hers, so it all works out! if I knew about the whole Ursa/Roman thing, I would have switched around the call signs, but anyhow, what was the oops on pg 193?

**Mo Cat:** _:hits cd player:_ play music! _:hits cd player again:_ damn, the dramatic music thing won't work! :P well, I guess this will happen next! :P

**Maglenan Princess:** took you long enough, Sam!

**prin69:** ok, you just confused the hell out of me, but that's ok!

**L.C. Brotherton:** well, I kept up the work, and now proudly present:

Chapter 28

Trance woke in the middle of the night, not entirely sure why. She slid out of bed, hearing Gaheris roll over and mumble something like: "More nova bombs". Then she heard it again, a soft sniffling.

"Veghn?" she asked, walking over to see the child curled into a ball on his bed. "Veghn, baby, what's wrong?"

Veghn looked up with a tear-streaked face. "It's my fault," he whispered, pulling his tail closer around him.

Trance sat down next to him. "Nothing is you're fault, honey," she told him, gently laying his head on her lap and stroking his hair.

"The bad men are going to hurt you because of me," Veghn sobbed. "I heard them."

"What do you mean?" Trance asked softly.

Veghn swallowed hard a few times as fresh tears fell from his eyes. "I can hear them," he whispered. "They accuse me. They're going to hurt you because of me!"

Trance rocked him back and forth. "Shhh," she murmured. "It's not your fault." She paused. "What do you hear?"

"The man," Veghn sobbed. "The gold man. He's in my head. He hurts me, Momma."

Trance's eyes narrowed in barely suppressed anger. "Are you sure it wasn't a dream?"

Veghn nodded tearfully. "I can still hear him, and he hurts," he said softly. He touched his forehead. "Here."

"He has no right to do that," Trance whispered angrily. "Gaheris," she said as calmly as she could.

"Mmm?"

"Get _up_," she ordered firmly.

"Mmmmm," he groaned halfheartedly.

"_Now_."

Gaheris was immediately wide-awake after hearing the urgency in her voice. "What's wrong?" he demanded, crossing the distance from his bed to Veghn's in three long strides.

The child had broken out in a cold sweat and was trembling uncontrollably.

"Stay with him," Trance ordered Gaheris, snagging a gold satin bathrobe by the bed. "Apollo!" she yelled. "Get some clothes on, now!"

"Why?" the green male groaned, waving his hand halfheartedly in the air.

"They've started with Veghn," Trance announced grimly, tossing a pair of baggy white pants and a shirt at him.

-------------

Apollo half-walked, half-ran to keep up with Trance as she strode angrily toward the Chambers of the Suns and Moons. "Trance, wait," he called as they neared.

Trance ignored him, shoving the doors open with more force than was necessary, causing them to bang hollowly off the walls. Trance's eyes roved the chamber like a predator searching for its prey. Finally, she saw the four Meeting members sitting in a circle together.

"You bastards!" she screamed, running at them. "How _dare_ you come after him, you arrogant, heartless, emotionless sons-of-bitches!"

"Trance!" Apollo grabbed in vain for her arms, attempting to restrain her.

"What did he do to you?" Trance continued hysterically. "He's a _child! _Not even a full-grown avatar, a _child!_ How could you do this to my son? He-"

"Trance!" Apollo snagged her arms, holding them firmly against her back. "Calm down. Think," he muttered in her ear.

Trance's breathing slowed, and she pulled herself free of Apollo's grip. "Why are you doing this to him?" she demanded through clenched teeth.

"It is the beginning of Trial," the gold leader announced, looking up from the other three.

"What? My, _my_ Trial is in one month!" Trance clenched her fist.

Yavie looked at Trance. "The Trial starts with the child. That's how it has always been."

"You are going to do this to him for a month?" Trance said, tears in her eyes.

"Unless you want the Trial sooner," Altariel said. "Yes."

"Then make it sooner," Trance pleaded. "Don't make him suffer!"

The four avatars looked at her impassively.

-----------------

Gaheris heard the door slam shut as Trance and Apollo left. "Veghn," he said softly. "Veghn-child, look at me."

Two brown eyes peeked over the tail. Veghn was a quivering ball of silver with his tail wrapped tight around him. "It's cold," he whispered.

Gaheris leaned over and pulled a blanket over the shivering for. He put a hand on Veghn's forehead, feeling the heat of a slight fever. "I'll be right back," he told the child, getting up.

Veghn's tail snapped forward, wrapping itself around Gaheris's hand. "Don't leave me," he whimpered.

"I just want to get some water for you," Gaheris said, smiling. "I'll be right back," he added at seeing the child's look of alarm.

"Promise?"

Gaheris smiled. "I promise." He gently unwrapped Veghn's tail from his hand and walked toward the bathroom. He reached into the cabinet over the sink for a washcloth, accidentally knocking over a bottle of something. "Oops," he muttered sheepishly, quickly picking it back up and pretending nothing had happened. Gaheris dampened the washcloth with cool water and walked back over. He rested the washcloth on Veghn's forehead.

"When will Mom be back?" Veghn asked. "And Apollo?"

"Soon," Gaheris told him, sitting on the bed next to the child, whose shivering had lessened somewhat. "Can you describe to me what's happening?"

Veghn shook his head. "I don't wanna."

"Okay," Gaheris put his arm around the young child. "I understand."

"Can you make it stop?" Veghn pleaded tearfully, throwing his arms around his father.

Gaheris hugged him back. "I wish I could," he whispered harshly. "But your mother can make them stop."

"Why are they doing this to me?"

Gaheris paused. "I'm not sure," he admitted.

Suddenly, Veghn's shakes ceased. "They've stopped," he said wonderingly, uncurling from his balled position.

Not long after, Trance and Apollo came through the door. Trance immediately rushed over to her son. "Are you okay?" she asked frantically, scooping Veghn up from his bed and hugging him tight.

"I'm fine, Mommy," Veghn whispered, entangling his tiny hands in Trance's red hair.

Later, after Veghn had fallen back into a calm sleep and Apollo had left to his room, Gaheris turned to Trance as the two lay together. "What did you do to make them stop torturing Veghn?" he asked bluntly.

Trance's body tensed up next to his. "My Trial will be tomorrow," she said softly.

Gaheris hugged her. "Tomorrow?"

Trance nodded. Gaheris couldn't see her face because she was facing the wall, but he heard a ragged intake of breath. Trance was crying. "You know if I... die, yours and Veghn's fate will be sealed as well?"

"Yes, I know," Gaheris replied, kissing her cheek. "I have faith in you. It'll turn out all right; you've made it through worse than this."

"Not like this," Trance said softly. "Oh, Gaheris, not like this."

A/N: Would anyone be interested in reading a fic where we (Maglenan Princess and I) take the first episode and completely rewrite it so Dylan puts the corridors on lock-down, and Gaheris never makes it to the Command Deck, and therefore survives? Just wondering, 'cause we're gonna do it anyway.


	29. Of Leaders and Traitors

A/N: oh, no! I don't have anything to put in this!

Vampiregirl081: thanks

Jamieson Z: I'll try to work on it, ok!

Iara: I continued AND e-mailed you! Yay!

Prin69: glad you liked it! I don't know where we'll put it yet but I'll let you know when we find out!

Vee017: I don't know yet! I'll let you know.

Eris: here's your next update!

L.C. Brotherton: glad you liked it!

Mo Cat: love him!

**Sorry for the short replies, but I'm talking on the phone at the same time, and I can't multi-task!**

Chapter 29

"We have a problem," Nuria announced as the squadron was eating dinner.

"What's that, Nuria?" Winter asked.

"Who's gonna be the leader of our squad?"

"Me," both Corrin and Jade said at the same time.

"Ah-ha," Xena said sarcastically. "That'll work _just_ fine."

Corrin made a face at Xena. "All right," he said. "Let's have a vote."

"The quaint old custom of democracy?" Nuria said. "Rather outdated, isn't it?"

"Well, it works for the Commonweal..." Cynthia trailed off. If the reports were true, the Commonwealth was under the control of Pish Tryan, and the Triumvirates were only figureheads. The room was awkwardly silent.

"Well, it seems simple to me," Giani said, setting down his napkin. "Who is the better pilot?"

"Let's find out," Corrin said, standing up. "Right now."

"Sit down, human," Jade said, looking calmly up at him. "Finish eating. _Then_ I'll beat your ass in a slipfighter."

Corrin sat down, rather embarrassedly. "Don't feel bad," Winter told him. "No matter what you did, Jade would find a way so you couldn't fight her until she was done eating."

---------------

Half an hour later, all nine pilots were assembled in an empty area of space not far from Kadon Base. Their slipfighters were now fully repaired, courtesy of Jade, Winter, and Giani.

"All right, Oenone, Prophet, Smarty, Ace, Storm, Callisto, Tuna: stay out of combat radius," Jade ordered. "Me and Hotshot only."

"Eh, Jade, please use proper grammar," Giani's voice said over the comm. "It should be 'Hotshot and I'."

Jade grinned. "I'm a Nietzschean, Smarty. I always come first."

"We'll see about that," Corrin's voice said over the comm. "You ready to roll, Jade?"

"All systems check," Jade replied, pulling down a lever in her cockpit. "Here I come, flyboy." She shoved the lever forward, and the slipfighter jumped forward in response. Jade grinned in triumph; after her repairs, her slipfighter's handling had improved by ten percent.

Jade flew her fighter in a slow, easy grid pattern, searching for Corrin's fighter. The human was using the tactic his squad had used in their first training exercise _(A/N: chap12)_; hide with all systems powered down and let the target come to you. Unluckily for him, Jade had already pinpointed his location as he had been talking. _Gotcha_, she thought as she neared his position. She powered up active sensors, showing Corrin's slipfighter exactly where she thought it would be.

"Oh, very good, Jade," Corrin's voice said as the sensors showed his fighter powering up.

Jade cursed as he dodged her first, second, and third missile locks.

"You gotta do better than that," Corrin laughed, soaring past.

The corners of Jade's lips perked upward. "Dodge this," she challenged. She pulled a hard 180 to line her up directly with Corrin's fighter and shoved the joystick as far forward as it would go. She zoomed toward him, too fast for a missile lock, until she would have been too close for a lock anyway. If it had been an actual battle with live fire, if Corrin had attempted to use missiles, it would have blown up both him and the opposing fighter. That's why slipfighters are equipped with a safety mechanism to protect against that. It automatically will switch firing control over to lasers.

Jade fired her lasers at point-blank range, then yawed right hard, spinning uncontrollably for a moment before she regained control.

Corrin's computer interpreted the data embedded in the lasers. If they had been real, they would have breached through to the Slipstream drive, causing the fighter to explode. "You are dead," Corrin's computer informed him pleasantly. "You are dead, please reset. You are..."

"Yeah, I get the picture," Corrin said irritably, whacking the side of the cockpit. "Damn!"

"You lose," Jade said calmly, banking her fighter to return to base.

-------------

"Okay, Jade, okay, your new call sign is going to be 'Leader', okay?" Giani announced as the pilots gathered in the Obs Room.

"Okay, okay," Jade held up her hands, laughing. "I can deal with that!"

Suddenly, the entire asteroid was rocked by a huge explosion, knocking most of the pilots to the floor.

"What was that?" Cynthia cried, getting up just as the asteroid was hit again.

"Someone's firing on us!" Achilles announced tersely, helping Xena to her feet.

Xena immediately pulled out two loaded Gauss pistols and pointed them at Achilles and Jade. "No body moves, no body gets hurt!" she snapped.

"Xena, what-" Winter started.

"No talk." Xena moved her left pistol off Jade and over to Winter to shut her up. "This has been coming since you left the Commonwealth and announced your name over the radio, Jade Rhade."

"Traitor," Jade hissed as Xena moved the pistol back over to her.

Xena's mouth twitched unhappily as if she were going to say something, but thought better of it.

The door to the Obs Room hissed open, revealing a Nietzschean woman flanked by ten Commonwealth men.

"_Shauna!_" Cynthia screamed. "You're-"

"Dead?" Shauna Du'lakar, out of Liona by Ulassim, smirked at the human woman. "I am just an echo from the past that will not die." The Commonwealth men disarmed the eight pilots and led them away.

"You're gonna pay for this!!" Nuria yelled over her shoulder. "You hear? I'm going to kill you traitorous bitches!"

------------------

**_Report filed by Xena Teraskasi, on board Drago-Katsov warship _Warrior's Fury**

The deed is done. I handed over the Rhade and the others to the Dragans. I wish I had another choice, but I don't. Perhaps now the Drago-Katsov will remove their fleet from orbit around Beros Prime. I can only hope. My only allegiance is to the Ursa; if this will not free my planet, I don't know what will.

--Xena Teraskasi, out of Karina by Hector, of Ursa Pride.

A/N: and we find out that Xena is not as much of a bitch as we formerly assumed!

**Preview of Chap30:** _Part one of Trance's Trial begins_.


	30. Trial Begins

A/N: this chapter had been planed since Chap6, so it's finally started!

**REPLIES:**

**prin69:** yeah, Jade won, but it didn't do a whole lot of good, did it?

**Maglenan Princess: **you're welcome, sam-sam!

**Jamieson Z: **you're welcome! thanks tons for about the fighter scenes: that last one I didn't think was that good, I went back and realized I could have done a lot more with that. it really IS easy, you just need words in your vocabulary like: 'juke' and 'bank'. sorry, I read too many Star Wars: X-Wing books. :P

**eris:** you have NO idea how much of a life this story is taking! I'm on chap36 in my notebook, and I'm putting in things I never thought of when I first did this! Rhade will be in Chap31, I promise!

**Iara:** I have to give my villains a reason; I like to make my characters seem as real as possible.

**L.C. Brotherton:** thanks tons! so happy you liked it! but like I said before, there's a LOT more I could have done w/ the fighter scene, it wasn't that good!

Chapter 30

In the morning, in the middle of breakfast, Trance, Gaheris, Apollo, and Veghn were interrupted by a squad of Avatars in black uniforms with black helmets. "You are to come with us, Trance Gemini, Gaheris Rhade, and Veghn Rhade," the leader announced, and his tone allowed no argument.

"Yes, Corporal," Trance responded, getting up and motioning for Gaheris and Veghn to do the same.

The lead Avatar reached to tie Trance's hands and Gaheris growled low in his throat in warning. The leader took a step back. "Remember your place, human," he ordered.

Gaheris made a strangled sound at being called a human. He took Veghn by the hand and put his free arm around Trance's shoulders. "It'll be all right," he whispered in her ear as the three followed the other Avatars. "You'll see. It always works out in the end."

"I'm not invincible, Gaheris," Trance told him. "This will be far worse than anything I've ever experienced."

"We'll be with you," Gaheris replied, stroking her face. "Veghn and I both."

Trance smiled at the two of them. "I know."

The squad of Avatars stopped in front of the Chambers of the Suns and Moons, and just like that, they were gone like a morning mist burned off by the sun. The doors creaked open ominously. Trance reached down and squeezed Gaheris's hand, then walked through.

Unlike the other times, the only Avatar visible was the gold leader. "We shall begin," he announced, and his voice echoed throughout the antechamber.

The same guards that had escorted them over pulled Gaheris and Veghn away from Trance.

"No!" Gaheris yelled, struggling against the guards as Trance walked to the center of the chamber. "Trance, no!" He growled helplessly as his arms were restrained behind his back. He lunged forward and was hit in the stomach by some kind of metal staff. Gaheris fell to his knees, gritting his teeth against the pain as the staff sent waves of electrical shocks coursing through his body.

"Stop!" Veghn pleaded, pulling at the guard's arm. "Stop hurting Daddy!"

Gaheris collapsed, and the guard pulled away the staff. Trance turned an anguished glance at him but kept walking toward the center of the chamber.

Veghn knelt down next to Gaheris's motionless, crumpled form. He closed his eyes and gently placed his hands on either side of his father's head. A soft silvery glow moved from Veghn's hands and bathed Gaheris's head in silver light.

Gaheris woke with a start, breathing heavily and looking at Veghn with wonder on his face.

Trance reached the center of the chamber, and the gold male nodded solemnly, sadly.

A gold ring of light flickered into existence around Trance's feet. It began to spin, faster and faster, and rose up, still spinning, enveloping Trance like a cocoon. Gaheris could hear her breathing grow labored as the spinning curtain fully covered her.

Suddenly, figures appeared out of the gold cocoon, figures that Gaheris realized must be Trances from other futures. There were tailless purple Trances, gold Trances with tails, Trances of other colors. They all left from the inside of the cocoon, and when Gaheris focused hard to see inside the light, he could have sworn that they were stepping _out_ of Trance herself. One turned toward him, and Gaheris heard Trance's voice in his head.

"_We are the Trance that you love, Gaheris,"_ the Trance-voice said. It had a slightly different inflection than he was used to hearing. _"We are separate, yet the same. At the core, we are all your Trance. We are the possibility of every crossroad, the future that Might Have Been."_

The other Trances, hundreds of thousands of them walked over to the opposite wall. Though there was no possible way Gaheris could count them all there were so many; they only took up a small area.

The golden light surrounding Trance cracked and fractured, shattering into thousands of pieces, exploding outward in a cloud of golden particles. Gaheris instinctively covered Veghn with his body and shielded his own head, but as soon as the particles touched him, they faded into nothingness. Trance screamed a long, anguished cry that sent shivers down his spine and tore at his heart.

"Trance!" Gaheris yelled, scrambling to his feet and taking a step toward her.

"No, Daddy!" Veghn lunged forward and grabbed Gaheris's hand, bringing his father to a halt. "Don't distract Mommy."

Gaheris looked back and was struck by the seriousness of the young boy. The Nietzschean could feel energy building in the room, starting at Trance, whose screams had become dry sobs, and slowly growing outward. Gaheris squinted as if in a high wind, trying to see Trance.

Suddenly, like a wave crashing onto shore, the energy rushed back in toward Trance, and she fell to her knees, screaming. The energy was seemingly absorbed by her, and all was silent except for the dry sobs. Then, in a mute explosion the energy exploded outward, racing in a pulse through the room, knocking Gaheris and Veghn to the ground.

Streams of golden light erupted from every pore in her body, and the screams doubled in intensity. Trance fell to her knees, spreading her arms out wide as light streamed from her fingertips.

Gaheris squeezed his eyes shut as the light became too much to bear. Even with his eyes closed, he could still see the golden light. _"They are cutting her link to our sun,"_ Gaheris heard whispered in his mind. _"Only _two_ Avatars have ever survived this stage."_

The light cut off, and Gaheris opened his eyes to see Trance still on her knees. Her lovely golden skin had turned a sickly off-white pallor, and only Veghn's small, warning hand kept him from going to her. Her eyes were glazed over, and she slowly collapsed to the side, motionless and limp. Trance's chest heaved in one final breath, then let it out, and didn't breathe in again.

"No!" Veghn yelled as tears spilled down his cheeks. Gaheris wrapped his arms around the little boy and buried his face in Veghn's thick mop of hair, letting his own tears of anguish fall freely.

A/N: I had a snow-day off from skool today, so expect at least one more chapter!

_Preview: Telemachus learns about his sister's whereabouts, Harper confronts him on the breakup._


	31. Kidnapped!

**A/N: I just uploaded the first chapter of a new Pre-S1/S4 Rhade fic called 'Night of a New Dawning'. Please review this then go read it!**

**Replies:**

**prin69:** thanks so much!

**Vee017:** well, the Dragans want the usual... a well-established Pride, hundreds of grandchildren, and all their enemies to die in horrific accidents that in no way can be traced back to them. :P Veghn's growth had begun to slow now, he's at about the size we last saw him. (looks about 5 years old) But his maturity level is much higher, and he knows more than he's telling...

**Jamieson Z:** aw, thanks tons! so happy you liked it!

**L.C. Brotherton:** thanks! I think you'll really enjoy this chapter!

**Iara:** wow, thanks! we'll find out if everything works out in... chap34 I believe.

**A/N: I was completely SHOCKED when we actually met a Moon Avatar in episode #513 'Moonlight Becomes You'. I felt so psychic! :P **

Chapter 31

All of the senior officers except Trance and Gaheris were on the Command Deck. All but one.

"Where's Beka?" Harper asked, leaning on his console.

"She won't come out of her quarters," Andromeda's hologram answered, giving Rhade a pointed look.

Telemachus avoided her glare by tapping something on his console.

Dylan caught that look and glanced over. "Anything you want to tell us, Rhade?"

Telemachus gazed evenly at Dylan. "No." He looked back down at his console.

Dylan looked at Rommie, who looked at her hologram, who looked at her viewscreen. "Private matters," the viewscreen announced, and Rhade looked at her gratefully. "None of which I'm at liberty to discuss."

"So my First Officer is AWOL, and you won't tell me why?" Dylan demanded angrily.

"That's correct," Rommie replied.

"You wouldn't be talking about me, would you?" Beka walked onto Command. Apart from looking tired, she seemed absolutely normal. She and Rhade avoided eye contact however as she bounded to the first officer's post.

"Where were you?" Dylan demanded.

"Had trouble sleeping, then Rommie didn't wake me up when she was supposed to," Beka lied.

Dylan frowned slightly, but didn't push it.

"How's the search-for-the-sister going?" Beka continued.

"Not good," Rommie replied. "I've checked and checked again- no recordable Slipstream activity. The pilots must have done some repairs on-the-fly, and whatever they did- wait." Rommie paused as new data came in.

"I'm receiving a transmission," Andromeda filled in.

"Who is it?" Telemachus asked urgently.

Rommie shrugged. "Beats me. Whoever sent it was using a coordinate scrambler, I can't trace its route of origin."

"It's pre-recorded," Andromeda added. "Not a continuous link."

"Play it," Dylan ordered.

Andromeda flickered out to be replaced by a Nietzschean woman standing in a large, empty room. "It this thing on?" she asked.

"Yes, Commodore," a voice from behind the camera replied.

"Greetings, Captain Hunt," she announced haughtily. "I am Shauna Du'lakar, out of Liona by Ulassim."

Dylan had Andromeda pause it. "Anyone we know?"

"Yes," Rommie replied unexpectedly. "She is one of the pilots whose slipfighter was destroyed in the battle with the Collectors."

Dylan continued the message.

"Dylan Hunt, I propose a trade," Shauna continued. "You and your ship, for her."

A Nietzschean male dragged another Nietzschean into the camera's view by her long hair.

"Tell us who you are, dearie," Shauna said with false cheerfulness as the female was forced to her knees.

"Go to hell," the Nietzschean replied. She looked up, revealing a pretty face covered in blood.

"Atlanta," Telemachus whispered angrily. Involuntarily his bone blades came out and he growled low in his throat.

"Jus tell us who you are," Shauna demanded. Producing a bullwhip from somewhere, she cruelly snapped it across the female's back.

"Jade Rhade," she gasped, tears welling. "Out of Majoram by Rhade." Her head lolled onto her shoulders.

"That's all I need," Shauna announced, rolling up the whip and nodding at the male.

Jade's head snapped up as she started to be dragged away. "You're recording this, aren't you, arrogant bitch!" she accused.

"Not only am I recording this, I am recording this for your dear brother, Telemachus."

"Telemachus, don't listen to her!" Jade screamed as she was dragged out of view. There was a muffled grunt and Jade's head could be seen again. "There's a whole fleet of Dragans! Don't lis-" There was a sickening _thud_ that could be heard clearly even over the transmission, and she collapsed senseless, and was dragged out of view again.

"That's right, don't listen, Telemachus!" Shauna mocked. "Watch her die!" She offered one more parting smirk, then reached off-screen to cut the transmission. "Farewell, Captain Hunt."

All eyes on the Command Deck turned to the Nietzschean Lieutenant Commander, who was staring straight ahead at the now blank viewscreen with an expression of silent but boiling fury. Without a word, Telemachus abruptly tapped something on his console and began walking out of Command.

"Rhade, where are you going?" Dylan demanded.

The door hissed shut behind him.

-----------------

"Rhade, stop," Andromeda ordered. "Where are you going?"

"To my quarters," Telemachus replied without looking at the hologram.

"Why?" She appeared in front of him.

Telemachus walked through the hologram. "So I can save my sister."

-------------

"Captain!" Telemachus barked, striding onto Command. "Use this to trace the transmission." He tossed a small cube with one reflective purple side at Dylan. "It's a tracer. Both Atlan-Jade- and I are implanted with receivers. If either one sends a transmission, we can trace it."

"Okay," Dylan said, looking heartened. He plugged the tracer purple-side-down onto his console and played the transmission again. As Jade was viewed on the screen, the tracer paused the transmission and zoomed in on her left forearm. A small purple outline of a square appeared between her second and third bone blades, and Vedran lettering scrolled next to it.

"She's on a ship called the _Warrior's Fury_," Rommie said. "Orbiting Beros Prime. Checking..." she paused with her eyes closed for a moment. "_Warrior's Fury_ is owned and operated by the Drago-Katsov."

"Isn't Beros Prime Ursa Pride's homeworld?" Beka asked. "They hate the Dragans even worse than Tyr did."

"Affirmative," the viewscreen replied. "Reports are that the Dragans have blockaded Beros Prime, and nothing goes in or out without their knowledge."

"Swell," Harper said sarcastically. "And I thought Tyr had united all the Nietzscheans."

Dylan shrugged. "How are we going to get a ship into that system?"

"Terla's ship," Telemachus announced. "I'll take Terla's ship."

"The _Dusky Rose_," Andromeda's hologram filled in.

"I'll go alone," Telemachus added. "Being the only Nietzschean on board."

"Terla can take the form of a Nietzschean," Dylan said. "I don't want to send you alone into hostile territory."

"Sensors don't read Terla as a Nietzschean," Rommie corrected. "She had a unique life-reading no matter what form she takes."

"The Dragans would be able to detect a non-Nietzschean," Telemachus said with a tone of finality. "I will go alone, providing Terla lends us her ship." He looked at Dylan. "Sir, she's my sister. I have to go after her, even if it means going alone."

"I could order you not to go," Dylan said, realizing that he had already lost this battle.

"And I would have to resign," Telemachus countered. "She's family, Dylan. The only thing more important to a Nietzschean that personal survival is family."

Rommie's attention was focused on another part of the ship. "Terla says we can use her ship," she announced after a moment. "She's busy right now, but she'll be here in a minute."

Telemachus nodded gratefully. "Captain, I would like to request a leave of absence so I can rescue my sister."

"But I'm missing two of my senior officers already," Dylan said. "I don't want people wondering why Gaheris, and Trance, and you have disappeared."

"Captain, you're not going to win," Terla's voice came from the door.

They turned- and saw a disembodied eye floating in the doorway.

"Yah!" Harper cried. "What the hell?" He pointed his gun at the eye.

"Relax, Harper," Terla's voice came from the eye. "It's a mage spell from my own world called 'Wizard's Eye'. I can stay and keep working and yet still hear and see you."

"Weird," Harper muttered, reaching out to touch the eye.

"_Don't_ touch it," Terla warned. "It will defend itself."

Harper took a metal tool from his belt and held it as far away from him as possible, and poked the eye.

A jet of acid squirted out, coating the metal tool. There was a loud hissing, and it disintegrated onto the deck.

"I warned you," Terla said smugly as the eye blinked at Harper. "Rhade, don't bang up my ship."

"I won't."

"Why did you and Cap'n Valentine break up?"

The Command Deck quieted, and Telemachus's face was devoid of all expression.

"Are you crazy?" Harper announced, breaking the brittle silence.

"Shut up, Harper," Telemachus said quietly.

"You've got one of the universe's most kick-ass chicks-"

"Shut up, Harper," Telemachus said warningly.

"-and you broke up with her?!?" Harper exclaimed.

"Shut up, Harper!" Telemachus said loudly, rage burning in his eyes, behind the rage a deep pain.

"Is it because she's not good enough for you?"

In a few quick strides, Rhade was at Harper's station. He lashed out and grabbed Harper by the neck, slamming him against the wall. "Don't ever say that," Telemachus growled, his face inches away from Harper's. "No one is good enough for her, not me, not anyone." Harper's feet were dangling a foot from the ground.

"Rhade, put him down," Dylan ordered sharply.

Telemachus released his grip and let Harper drop to the floor rubbing his neck. "Never, _ever_ suggest that again," he threatened, then walked out of Command with his bone blades still extended.

"Rhade, wait," Beka called as the door hissed shut behind him.

----------

Telemachus was inside the _Rose's _cockpit doing his pre-flight check when he saw that floating eye again. "That's very disturbing, Terla," he said over his shoulder.

The eye blinked. "That was quite a display you put on back there," Terla said, not accusing, just stating a fact. Though the eye continued to stare at him, Rhade heard a muffled clang and a curse. "Sorry, stubbed my toe," she announced.

"I'm glad you enjoyed my performance" Telemachus said sarcastically.

"I'm not judging you!" Terla exclaimed. "But I'm going to eavesdrop on Cap'n Valentine and see what she thinks; I'll get back to you on that."

Telemachus was sorely tempted to say yes, but he didn't want to violate Beka's privacy. "No, don't, Terla," he sighed, strapping himself into the pilot's chair.

Telemachus could hear her pout. "You Nietzscheans are no fun." With a sharp POP! of displaced air the floating eye disappeared.

"_Rose_, you are ready for departure," Andromeda announced. "Come back soon, Rhade."

"Will do, Rommie," Telemachus replied. He hesitated, hands on the piloting controls. "Tell Beka good-bye for me." He cut the transmission and took off slowly from the hanger, getting the feel for the large cargo ship. As soon as he got the hang of it, he opened a Slip portal and jumped in. His destination: Beros Prime.

_Preview: Short chapter on what Beka thinks about Rhade's outburst._


	32. Beka

**SHOUT OUT TO:** I wanna give a big thank-you to one of my best buds, S. A. M. **(Maglenan Princess)** for typing up the following chapters for me. I was exactly ten chapters behind in my typing from my notebook, and Maglenan Princess typed up the following. **LOVE YA! THANKS TONS, AND LET ME KNOW WHEN YOU CAN FEEL YOUR FINGERS AGAIN:P**

**A/N: short chapter from Beka's POV, in case you couldn't tell from the title. :P**

**Replies:**

**eris:** I is mean person? I certainly hope not:P well, I guess you'll see about Jade and the others!

**Jamieson Z:** thanks tons for the reviews on Night of a New Dawning!

**Iara:** continuation order received and followed:P

**Vee017:** hot Alpha male, yes... _:snaps out of Rhade-induced day-dream:_ what were we talking about:P

**L.C. Brotherton:** well, as long as you keep wanting more, I'll keep delivering as long as you do the same w/ Long Winding Road! Deal?

**prin69:** oh, did you really? cool! glad you liked the eye: I just like to emphasize now-and-then that Terla is NOT from the Andromeda universe. :P

**Maglenan Princess:** love ya, sam!

**Dancer of Dreams:** oooh, new reviewer! _:gives Dancer of Dreams a hug:_ yeah, I sooo watched that scene over and over again! it was just so FUNNY!

Chapter 32

Harper gave Beka an accusatory look as he got back on his feet, rubbing his neck. "Damn Uber attack-dog," he muttered.

Beka was bright red after what Rhade had done and said, and she looked down and shuffled her feet.

"You can take off the rest of your shift, Beka," Dylan said kindly, not saying anything about Rhade.

Beka tossed Dylan a look of gratitude, and then exited the Command Deck.

"Are you all right?" _Andromeda_'s viewscreen asked concernedly as Beka collapsed onto her bunk in the _Maru_.

"Go away," came the muffle reply as Beka buried her face in the pillow.

"Beka-"

"That's an order," Beka replied sharply.

"Going." The viewscreen resumed its normal surface.

Beka groaned, rolling over to stare at the ceiling. Just for fifteen minutes she wished she could get inside Rhade's head and find out what the hell was going on in there.

_Divided loyalties?_ She wondered. _Maybe he thinks he's being unfaithful to his dead wife's memory?_

_Duty to the Nietzscheans? _Maybe Majoram pride wasn't as happy towards human-Nietzschean relationships as Telemachus had played them out to be.

_Stress?_ Maybe he couldn't handle a relationship aboard ship.

Beka pounded the palm of her hand against her head, trying to will Rhade out of her mind. The truth was that after he had left her room she had been unable to even _think_ of not having him in her life. She wanted to take the _Maru_ and follow the _Rose_, to hold Telemachus in her arms and never let go, ever again.

Beka just wanted him back.

_Preview: new o/c, more info on Xena._


	33. Patience

**A/N: **we find out more about Xena's betrayal, and we introduce (yet another) original character. This chapter is a shout-out to **Nick Morrison and Mike Morrison**: without them Nemay Flachar and Boa Fett wouldn't exist.

Chapter 33

Xena shoved hapless workers and crewmembers out of her way as she stalked down the corridors of the _Warrior's Fury_. "Move, motherfucker!" she ordered the guard outside of Shauna's quarters.

"You don't have authorization-" the male Nietzschean started.

_WAM_! Xena laid the guard low with a well-placed knee-jab between the legs. "Open the motherfucking door, right now, or I swear on Drago Mousevni's remains that you'll be sterile for the rest of your pitiful life!"

The male was curled on the floor, whining pathetically. Xena growled low in her throat and grabbed the male's hand, bending back the wrist as she slapped it on the fingerprint panel.

With a _hiss_ of hydraulics, the door opened. Xena released her hold on the male, stepping over his as she stalked into Shauna's living room. "Du'lakar!" she yelled. "Get out here, right now!" She slammed a fist on Shauna's desk, scattering flexis everywhere.

Shauna emerged from an adjacent room. "What do you want, _Ursa_?" she spat out Xena's pride name as if it were an insult.

"I want your ships out of orbit around my homeworld," Xena announced. "You are still blocking all trade. You destroyed our entire military force and are starving our children so I would hand the Rhade over. _Remove your ships_."

"No," the Dragon replied. "We will not leave orbit of Beros Prime until the _Andromeda_ falls into our trap."

"How will _Andromeda_ enter you trap if you did not send the coordinates?" Xena asked, sure she had detected a flaw.

"The Rhade has a receiver," Shauna replied in a smug tone. "Her brother can track it, and he won't leave her at our mercy."

Xena switched tacks. "What of the pilots? Are you going to get them food and heat, or what? The humans are freezing to death in that cell."

Shauna sat at her desk, looking calmly up at Xena. "So?"

Xena growled. In one lightning fast movement she snatched a sharp metal shuriken from her belt and stabbed it deep into the metal of Shauna's desk. The violent action jarred a glass figurine, which fell and shattered on the floor. Xena ground the shards into dust with her boot heel. "If you won't do anything, I will," she promised darkly.

"Whatever," Shauna replied absently, restacking the flexis Xena had disturbed on her desk.

Xena shoved her way past the door guard to the hall beyond. She hated the Drago-Katsov beyond all reason, like any self-respecting Ursa, and Shauna Du'lakar was a prime example of why Ursa children were reared from birth to hate the Dragons. Her assigned quarters aboard the _Fury_ were really nothing more of a glorified prison cell that was guarded at all times. She gave the guard her death's glare, and was rewarded when the male flinched and opened the door for her as quickly as he could.

Xena removed the hard leather soles from the bottom of her boots, showing that they were actually boots more like what the ninjas of ancient Earth wore. They were soft black leather, shaped rather like mittens in that the big toe was separate from the others. Her feet made no sound as she walked with practiced grace across the room. Xena greatly admired the ninja: get the mission done, no matter the cost. Anyone who falls behind in a team, gets left behind. Xena wouldn't be surprised if she found that Nietzsche had gotten most of his inspiration from the ninja. She sat in the middle of the floor, cross-legged and closed her eyes, clearing her mind in a technique combining Ursa mental philosophy and ninja meditation.

Xena was interrupted by a harsh buzz at the door. "What do you want?" she snapped at the guard, wondering how low his breeding status was that forced him into this job.

"Someone wants to see you," the guard replied, sounding bored.

"Who?"

"Some Ursa."

"Send him in," Xena ordered, rising to her feet in one smooth motion, her hands not touching the floor.

A Nietzschean male entered, and Xena broke into a smile. "Nemay?" she cried incredulously. "What are you doing here?"

Nemay Flachar was a childhood friend. He had brown hair and eyes and an olive complexion. He loved the art of sword craft, and was an expert with both the long sword and scimitar. "Breaking you out, duh," he replied, a smile on his face. "Me and Boa got the _Shadowdancer_ all ready to go."

"Boa's here too?" Xena asked.

"Wanna talk to him?" Not waiting for an answer, Nemay pulled a handheld comm. from his pocket.

"Hi Xena!" Boa Fett, Nemay's younger brother, greeted enthusiastically. "You ready to leave the lair of the Dragons?"

"You have no idea," Xena replied. "Where are you?"

"On board the _Shadowdancer_," Boa replied. "I'll have it all ready by the time you and Nemay get back."

"See you then," Xena said before Nemay cut the transmission.

"Ready to go?" Nemay asked.

Xena slipped the hard soles over her feet. "I am not working for the dragons anymore," she announced. "We're going to drop by a group of fellow prisoners and get them too," she said. "Shauna's hostages."

"Should we get Boa to help?" Nemay asked, pulling out the comm. again.

Xena placed her hand over it. "If you brought the _Shadow_ have him stay and guard it. I have a feeling we'll be coming back hot," she added grimly.

A/N: what do you think about the new characters? reviews would totally be appreciated for every chapter! thanks again to Nick and Mike!

_Preview: Trance's Trial continues._


	34. Strength of a Moon Avatar

Chapter 34-Strength of a Moon Avatar

An oppressive silence hung in the dim chamber as Trance was motionless. The multitude of opposite-future Trances watched gravely. The silence was broken by the gold leader who spoke a single word: "_Tule_," he ordered, looking at Gaheris and Veghn. "Go to your mother, child."

Gaheris took Veghn's hand and took a step forward.

"Not you," the leader said harshly. "Only the child."

Gaheris masked his anguish. "Go," he told Veghn. "Don't let her die." He fell to his knees and released the boy's hand.

Veghn took a few cautious steps. Seeing that no one was going to stop him, he broke into a dead run, collapsing by Trance's side. He took her hand and cried, tears dripping onto her motionless body. "Please wake up," he whispered through the tears. "She's cold," he said softly, looking back at Gaheris. "Daddy, she's cold."

_She's not dead! _One of the purple Trances announced. _She is cold because she was cut off from our sun!_

_Lend her your light, child._ A gold Trance said softly, tail flicking behind her. _Lend her your light. You know what to do._

Veghn hesitated, glancing back at his father for encouragement. Gaheris smiled. "You can do it," he whispered harshly.

Veghn blew a breath out. He placed his hands on either side of Trance's head, placing it in his lap, like she had done for him. The corners of his lips twitched nervously as he closed his eyes. Veghn began to glow a soft, shimmering silver. The glow lifted off his skin. The light enveloped Trance like a shroud, and Veghn fell back, gasping fro breath. He was now a pale silver and he was crying uncontrollably.

Gaheris lunged forward toward him, but was hit across the knees with a metal staff again. "My son," he groaned, grabbing the staff and pulling it so the guard fell forward. Gaheris stumbled past to Veghn's huddled form. The leader raised his hand in a gesture to the guards, who stood down and allowed the Nietzschean to go to his son.

Gaheris stumbled forward to wrap his son in his arms. Veghn's tears soaked a wet spot into his red uniform jacket he had worn over three hundred years ago. He heard a sudden, ragged intake of breath from beside him. "Trance," Gaheris whispered.

Veghn crawled out of his father's arms and went to hug his mother.

Trance's chest heaved up and down in great gulps of air. Her skin had taken on a soft silver glow, reminiscent of Veghn's light that had enveloped her, as she lay unconscious. Her mouth moved, as if to speak, but she had no breath to form the words.

Gaheris gently kissed her lips. "Don't talk," he said softly. "Save your strength."

Trance would not be deterred. Gaheris leaned in close to hear her murmuring; "_Isil, Isil, Isil_."

Gaheris frowned, thinking the universe would be a better place if there were only one language.

"_Isil_," Veghn whispered. "Moon."

"_You are a moon avatar, Veghn Rhade_," a gold Trance said. "_A strong avatar. The strength of your moon saved your mother._"

The gold leader looked on impassively as Gaheris and Veghn helped Trance to her feet. The bright silver glow was fading, and as it faded, Trance grew stronger.

"The child is a Moon Avatar," the gold leader announced. "That much is clear. He will be the key to the perfect possible future, a guide to Dylan Hunt, the champion of the light. It does not happen often, but we the Meeting have misjudged you," the gold leader admitted. "Trance Gemini, your act of selfless love has made the perfect future more possible. Gaheris Rhade, without your life, this would never have happened," he hesitated. "Thank you, and please receive my blessings."

Gaheris inclined his head in respect, but said nothing.

"Child, have you anything to say?" the leader asked.

The boy released Gaheris's hand and walked up to the leader. "I am Veghn Rhade," he said clearly without hesitation. "Out of Trance, by Gaheris. I am both Nietzschean," he raised his forearm, showing the nubs that were already beginning to erupt into bone blades, "and Avatar," his tail rose up and wrapped itself around the forearm. "And I want to go back to the _Andromeda_."

**A/N: yes, boys and girls, the Trial is over! CELEBRATE!**

_Preview: Nemay and Xena meet up with Telemachus._


	35. Meetings By Chance

Chapter 35

Xena slipped the hard soles of her boots into a small knapsack along with pistols and grenades. "What Du'lakar is doing is not right," she announced.

"Agreed," Nemay said, checking the charge on his gun. "But how to keep the Drago-Katsov from retaliating against Beros Prime?"

Xena grinned as she outlined her plan.

Nemay matched her grin, sliding the cartridge into place with a _click_. "Let's bring it," he ordered, pulling a cross brace of ammunition over his chest.

-

Jade wrapped her arms around Cynthia, attempting to keep the Earther warm. "Don't give up on me now, Cyn," she said. "That's an order."

Cynthia's teeth chattered uncontrollably. "When have…I ever…followed orders?" Her head drooped down and her eyes closed.

"No!" Winter slapped Cynthia across the face. The human woman's head snapped back up, and Winter started rubbing Cynthia's hands to keep her warm.

Corrin stumbled around the prison, clumsy from the cold. He kicked at one of the metal walls. "Hey guys!" he said with false cheerfulness. "I actually _do_ have toes!"

The eight pilots' prison was actually a ten-by-ten freezer. The temperature was kept somewhere below zero, and by now Jade was worried about the non-Nietzscheans getting hypothermia.

"How long do you think they'll keep us here?" Giani asked, blowing on his hands and rubbing them together.

"Until my brother comes for me," Jade said softly.

"Will he?" Nuria asked patiently.

Jade shook her head. "I don't know."

-

Telemachus guided the _Dusky Rose_ into the Dragon hangar. Promises of an extra bonus convinced the female dock manager that Telcontar Alkatran out of Ursa by Alkatran would be trusted. Telemachus checked the charge of his Gauss pistol.

"Good luck," the _Rose_'s viewscreen said to him. "You'll need it."

-

Xena and Nemay walked calmly and confidently down the middle of the hall. No one gave either of them a second glance, even when Xena accessed the override for the internal defenses, switching them to an automatic cleaning cycle.

"It'll last about three hours," Xena told Nemay in a low tone. "Then all hell will break loose. No one noticed?"

"Everyone seemed totally uninterested," Nemay answered. "One thing you have to love about our people: we're completely self-absorbed."

Xena laughed. "Thank the stars for that."

"Where are the hostages being held?" Nemay asked as they kept walking so as not to attract attention.

"In a freezer," Xena replied.

Nemay growled low in his throat. "Even if they are the Draog-Katsov's prisoners, they should still be treated with respect!"

"Well, we're here to remedy that situation," Xena responded. "By giving the Dragons no prisoners at all." Her attention was drawn to a passing Nietzschean male, and she was not entirely sure why. While others rushed about on their own business, this male seemed more cautious, as if he had never been down this hallway before. "Nemay," she said. "Do you notice anything odd about the male at one o' clock?"

"What's at one o' clock?" he asked jokingly before glancing casually over Xena's shoulder. "If you get rid of the beard, he'd look just like Telemachus Rhade."

-

Telemachus was walking down a corridor when a female stepped out in front of him. "You are Telemachus Rhade, are you not? Here to rescue Jade?"

Telemachus paused, not entirely sure what the hell was going on.

"I am Xena Teraskasi, out of Ursa by Teraskasi," she continued in the same tone. "Come with us, it is not secure here."

"How do I know I can trust you?"

Xena laughed slightly. "You don't. But ask yourself this: even though we know who you are, we have not given you to the Dragons."

"Can we get a move on?" Nemay requested. "They're being held in a _freezer_, dammit."

"_What_?" Telemachus demanded.

"The pilots are being kept prisoner in a giant cold-storage room," Xena told him bitterly.

"In that case, lead the way," Telemachus said.

_Preview: the rescue attempt goes horribly wrong._


	36. Of Disaster and Reunion

Chapter 36

"Hold this," Nemay ordered Telemachus, handing him his gun. Nemay placed a hand against the door that was the only entrance to the pilots' prison. "I can't feel the cold, it must be isolated."

"Thank you for your analysis, thermologist Flachar," Xena said sarcastically.

"What?" 

Xena sighed. "I made it up. It means someone who studies temperature."

"Wouldn't it mean somebody who studies heat?" Nemay noted, smirking at Xena.

"It's besides the point!" Xena exclaimed. "Do you have anything to breach it, or do I have to blow it up and bring the whole ship's crew after us?"

Nemay grinned. "Nemay Flachar, out of Ursa by Flachar, has almost anything imaginable in that there gun, baby."

Xena rolled her eyes. "You can tell me all about it later. Just blast the damn door!"

Nemay took his gun back from Telemachus and slid open a small compartment. He took out a small glass capsule and placed it gently between his teeth. He then pulled out the cartridge already in the gun, replacing it with another from his cross-brace. Nemay pushed a button on the bottom of the gun and a small knife extended. He pushed it into the metal as easily as a hatchet through soft wood and carved a tiny hole, placing the glass capsule in it.

"Give," he ordered Xena, holding the capsule with one hand and extending the other behind him.

Xena sighed and took out her bubble gum, putting it in Nemay's hand.

Nemay used it to secure the capsule to the door. "Very strong acid," he explained. "When I fire and explosive dart at it, it will scatter the acid over the entire door, melting it and releasing the pilots."

"If you can hear me, stand back from the door," Xena ordered as Nemay focused his laser sight on the capsule.

Nemay pulled the trigger. There was a quiet _puff_ of air, and a small dart pierced the capsule. The acid splattered over the door, hissing madly as it ate at it.

-

Jade looked up suddenly. "What's that noise?"

"Sounds like-" Giani started.

"Acid," Cynthia finished. "Either the Dragons have decided to kill us in a very unpleasant way-"

"Or we're about to be rescued," Winter added.

"Stand back, then," Achilles ordered, but no one moved.

The small room began to be filled with a noxious green smoke. Jade covered her nose with her sleeve, coughing until her eyes watered. Suddenly, she was on the floor with no memory of falling. Before she blacked out, she felt herself being lifted and carried out of the room.

-

"What did you do?" Jade heard a male's voice ask.

"The cold must have had an affect on the acid," she heard another voice protest. "Turning it poisonous."

"If you killed her…"

"She's not dead. Look, she's coming to."

Jade moaned and opened her eyes. Two faces swam into hazy view, and then split into four. "Ooh, double vision," she groaned, closing her eyes again.

"Jade, are you all right? Speak to me!"

Jade opened her eyes, seeing two men's faces hovering over her. "Telemachus?" she squinted.

Telemachus gathered her into his arms. "I thought I had lost you again," he whispered.

"What about the others?" she asked.

Telemachus hesitated, and Jade had a sinking feeling in her stomach. "The Perseid, the Than, and the two humans didn't make it," he said softly.

Jade blinked furiously, trying not to cry.

"Rhade get up here," a female snapped from the cockpit. "Boa and I need the coordinates to the _Andromeda_."

"I'll be right back," Telemachus whispered, and headed to the cockpit.

A wave of dizziness swept over Jade, and her knees collapsed from under her.

"Are you all right?" someone squatted next to her, lifting her left eyelid and peering into it.

Jade pushed the hand away. "Who are you?"

The Nietzschean male sat back on his heels, pushing a mop of brown hair out of his eyes. "I am Nemay Flachar, out of Venus by Mario, of Ursa Pride."

_Ooh, cute guy_, Jade thought. "Where am I?"

"My ship, the _Shadowdancer_."

Jade could see a black haze growing over her vision. "Oh, _hell_," she groaned.

"Get some rest," Nemay said softly. He gently lifted her up and carried her to a bed. The last thing Jade saw was Nemay's face. "Get better angel. Your brother would never let me hear the end of it." 

Megz-you owes me for this BIG TIME! I ran outta Pom juice and lost all the feeling in my fingers for you! Hope you're happy! **LOVE YA, SAM!**

_Preview: Jade wonders about her future in Majoram Pride._


	37. Acceptance

A/N: **HELP! I NEED A FAVOR! for those of you who have read the first chapter of Night of a New Dawning, one of my other fics, I need your help!** I've already started working on my sequel to this story, and won't have any time to work on 'NoaND', so if anyone has an idea for that fic, type up the next chapter and e-mail it to me. **PLEASE! HELP ME OUT HERE!**

**prin69:** so happy you love the new characters! I SOO now how cats think you're crazy! I'll b on the phone, and one of four will stare at me like I'm talking to myself!

**L.C. Brotherton:** I'm glad you like the teasers I put at the end, I thought it would be a good idea. yeah, well, Mike is a big Star Wars fan (like me! so is Nick!) so since I wouldn't let his character be Boba Fett, he just took out one of the 'b's. :P Glad you liked the end!

**Iara:** thanks tons! so happy you like Nemay!

**Vee017:** more of the brother? wow, I feel special:) most people don't like original characters, but you want MORE? YAY! _:dances around room:_ oh, no, I don' think I'm putting Jade and Achilles together at this point. I'm not really sure. why is it Nietzschean males can have 20 wives, but the chicks can't have 20 husbands?

**Jamieson Z: lol!** yeah, Jade is so much fun to play with:P

**Dancer of Dreams:** glad you liked it!

**isabel:** achilles is there, don't worry! you'll run back into him in chap39 or chap40 I believe! glad you liked him!

**POLL:** Which O/C is you're favorite in 'Echoes'? (not counting any Rhade's, meaning no Veghn or Jade)

Chapter 37

Jade went to the refrigerated storage bins that served as coffins for Cynthia, Giani, Corrin, and Tuna. She had lived with these pilots, ate with them, suffered with them and fought with them. Now over half of them were dead. Herself, Nuria, and Achilles were the only ones who had made it through relatively unscathed. Winter had lapsed into a coma, and Boa had said that he would do what he could for her, but he had very limited medical experience. Jade wasn't entirely sure about Xena. She understood that the other Nietzschean had done what she had done for a good reason, but after all Jade had suffered through, her forgiveness was in short supply. She heard footsteps approaching from behind her. "What happened?" she asked. "How did we escape?"

Telemachus sat down beside her. "After we pulled you and the others out of your..." he paused, "...cell, Xena overpowered Shauna and used her as a hostage, therefore taking over the Dragans' ship. When we got back to Nemay and Boa's ship, Xena activated a remote she had hotwired into the Slipstream drives of all the enemy fleet. All of the Drago-Katsov are now floating helplessly in the 'Stream," he finished, his tone indicating he thought they deserved it.

Jade turned and looked at him. "Why am I alive, and they are dead?" she asked hollowly. "They were my family, my Pride."

Telemachus gathered his little sister into his arms. He knew that logic explained why all the pilots who were Nietzschean had survived relatively unscathed, but logic wouldn't ease the survivor's guilt.

Jade was crying into his shoulder. For some time the brother and sister sat together on the cold metal decking of the ship. "Shhh," Telemachus whispered, stroking her hair. "It'll be alright."

Jade pulled away, wiping at her eyes. "Am I still a Rhade?" she asked as fresh tears formed in her eyes but did not fall. "Do I still have a Pride to belong to?"

"Of course you're a Rhade," Telemachus replied softly. "And when this war with the Collectors is finally over, we will have a home to go back to." He grasped her shoulders firmly. "You are Jade Rhade, out of Majoram by Rhade." Now it was his turn for tears in his eyes. "Why didn't you come back to us?"

"I... couldn't," Jade sobbed. "After all the things I had done to stay alive, I could never return to the girl I had been, Atlanta Rhade."

Telemachus hugged her as she began to cry again, murmuring soft words, trying to comfort his baby sister. "Don't worry," he whispered. "Everything will be alright. You'll always have me."

"Promise?"

Telemachus smiled. "I promise."

A/N: completely pointless chapter, definitely NOT one of my best. I got lazy here, so they'll be short chapters until Chap41-42 which are my finale chapters. **Yes, ladies and gentlemen, there is an end in sight! ** I've already started the 'Echoes'sequel, and really, chap42 IS the final chapter! I've decided to move the tragedy until the sequel and just leave 'echoes' off with a big shocker. That's all I'll tell you:P

_Preview chap38: Super-short chappie w/ Gaheris, Trance and Veghn._


	38. Trial by Fire

**BORING POINTLESS CHAPTER ALERT!**

**eris:** good to see you again, too! glad you're looking forward to it!

**Jamieson Z:** oh, I hope you feel better! I'm so happy tou liked the Telemachus/Jade! I wasn't really sure about it, but if you like, it, then I happy! why Apollo? (just curious)

**L.C. Brotherton: **glad you liked it!

**Vee017:** how come achilles? (just curious)

**Iara:** continuing!

**Dancing Queen:** OMG! YOU'RE BACK! RAISE DA ROOF:P oooh, who's your crush? can you tell me? yeah, bekers and Rhade'll probably stay apart 4ever. :(

Chapter 38

Meanwhile, another Rhade was with his small family. As soon as they had left the Chambers of the Suns and Moons behind them and were walking through the center of a park, Gaheris swept Trance into his arms. He lifted her into the air, turning round and round, laughing with the pure joy of the knowledge of being free. Finally, a huge weight had been lifted off of his shoulders, a weight that had settled there with Veghn's conception. Losing his balance, Gaheris fell to the ground. Veghn jumped on him, laughing happily.

Nothing could go wrong now. Their love had passed its trial by fire and emerged stronger.

"We're returning to the _Andromeda_ today," Trance announced, tears of joy in her eyes as she hugged Veghn. "We're going home."

A/N: I have another American History project to do, but I'll try to upload at least one more chapter today. Sorry for the short chappie!

_Preview of Chap39: The _Shadowdancer_ is disabled and poor Boa gets stuck with all the repairs. Chap39 SEEMS pointless, but the Maj-91 becomes important in 'Fallen Angel'._


	39. Maj91

**A/N: THANKS TO NICK MORRISON FOR DESIGNING THE Maj-91 ON AN ETCH-A-SKETCH! Don't mind me if I seem a little mmm... 'sparkly' in my replies, I just finished a research paper on the battle of Midway. :(**

**Replies:**

**Vee017:** _:sings:_ oh, I'm feeling evil- oh so evil- I'm feeling evil, and mean, and... and... I can't think of anything else for that song:P you should be afraid! MWA-HA-HA! Temple of Gaheris? where's my membership:P here's more of Boa, just for you!

**L.C. Brotherton: ** omg! you did it again! I got up to chap22, and you've already got 3 more chapters! how do you do it? oh, no, not exams, a research paper. even more fun. _:whispers:_ _listen... see if you can hear the sarcasm..._ :P

**Iara: **well, here's more!

**Jamieson Z: **chap39!

**eris:** ok, I kept going!

Chapter 39

Xena was halfway into her meditation when suddenly the _Shadowdancer_ jumped out of Slipstream with a whine, and she heard angry cursing from the cockpit.

"Boa, what did you do?" she yelled without opening her eyes.

Boa Fett poked his head into the small cargo area. "Damn _Dragans_," he cursed. "That Du'lakar bitch put in a time delay fuse that shorted out the damn Slip drive."

"Oh hell," Xena replied calmly. "Well, you'd best go fix it."

"Thanks for all your help," Boa said sarcastically. The sandy-haired Ursa male stomped down the hall. "Nemay!" he yelled. "Repair duty!"

"Don't wanna," came the response from a partially open door. The _Shadow_ wasn't that big, but it had actual quarters that the two brothers had installed some time ago.

Boa growled and kept stomping down the corridor. "Nuria-Achilles-Jade-Rhade-Xena-Nemay!" he yelled in one breath. "REPAIRS!"

Alternating degrees of 'no' came from each of the individual quarters, leaving poor Boa to do them himself.

Jade poked her head into Nemay's quarters. "Aren't you going to help your brother?" she asked, hearing a muffled clang and an accompanying curse.

Nemay looked from where he was laying on his bed. "Are you?"

"Well, no," Jade admitted.

"He can handle it," Nemay added. "There's nothing Boa Fett likes more than repairing things."

"Yes, I've been wondering about that," Jade mused. "Why do the two of you have different last names, yet call yourselves brothers?"

"Same mother, different fathers," Nemay explained. "My father died shortly after I was born, and my mother remarried into the Fett family. I kept my father's last name, Flachar."

"A-ha," Jade nodded. "And Telemachus came to the Dragan's ship with you?"

"Full of questions today, aren't you?" Nemay smiled and sat up. "Have a seat." He motioned to a swiveling chair bolted to a desk.

Jade entered and sat.

"Rhade came on his own ship, the _Rose_ I believe it was called. HE had the good fortune to meet up with me and Xena on our way to get you."

"where is my brother's ship now?"

"She self-destructed in the Dragan's hanger after they attempted to use her to pursue us. The _Rose_ is destroyed."

"And Terla's going to kill me!" announced Telemachus cheerfully from the hallway where he was on his way to help Boa.

"Who?" Jade asked.

"Long story!" came the shouted reply, and the door hissed shut behind him as he made his way to the Slipstream core.

"How did you break us out?"

Nemay reached under his pillow and pulled out a flexi.

"With that?" Jade looked incredulous.

"No," Nemay looked at her oddly. "That's my journal." He reached under the pillow again and pulled out a handheld energy pistol. "This is how i broke you out," he said with some pride. "It could change warfare as we know it."

Jade paused a bit. "It's a pistol, Nemay."

"Yes, I know that," Nemay replied, grinning. "But the Maj-91 isn't just any pistol."

"Never heard of it."

"Good. IF you had, I'd have to kill you." Nemay grinned again. "I designed and built it from scratch. It'll fire pretty much anything you put into it. Bullets, energy bullets, flachettes, mini bombs, grenades..." he paused for dramatic effect. "Point Singularity and Nova bombs."

"Wait, what?" Jade's head whipped around from where she had been studying the desk. "Did you just say 'Point Singularity and Nova' bombs?"

"Miniature ones," Nemay explained. "Not as powerful as full-sized ones, but they still pack a punch."

"I want one," Jade said, somewhat in shock.

Nemay grinned. "Sorry girl, there's only one in existence. It's like a warship unto itself."

_Preview of Chap40: Telemachus receives a ghostly visitor from his past. Dun-dun-dun!_


	40. The Power of Dreams

A/N: still working on Midway, y'all! (it gives me an excuse to type on the computer)

**Replies:**

**prin69: **yeah, Nick (the guy who designed it for me) was so funny! 'Meg, can we put-' 'NO, NICK! you can't fit anything else on it!' lol. he's a really sweet guy though, and currently is designing a Magog ship for me.

**L.C. Brotherton: **LUCKY! trade ya: eighth grade really sucks. but I love that you get to write more of Long Winding Road: Hope you do more soon!

**Vee017:** _:frames Temple of Gaheris membership:_ lol! well, Telemachus would tell everyone Terla is going to kill him because the _Rose_ was destroyed, and Terla told him not to bust up her ship... having a shapeshifter mad at you is NEVER a good thing! drag out angst and misery? me:P oh, you know I will because I'm evil. :P ha-ha-ha!

**Jamieson Z: **it'll fit in somewhere! trust in the Jade, the Jade is good! or not... :P no, that's okay, I'l let you do your paper. :P

**Dancing Princess: **HEYA, Samantha! that was so funny wen you sent me the review when you were siting next to me!

**Iara:** ghostly visitor chapter... uploaded and awaiting reviews!

Chapter 40

Telemachus watched Boa hanging upside-down, trying to repair the sabotage done to the Slipstream drive by the Dragans. "Nah," he decided. "Fett, you're on your own."

"Thanks," Boa replied sarcastically as Rhade closed the door.

Telemachus went to the small quarters that Nemay had Boa had given to him. He had only intended to rest for a short while, but fell asleep in his chair.

He was standing on a gray, deserted plain. He looked around, seeing the gray horizon blend seamlessly with a clouded ski. This didn't feel like a dream at all.

"_Hello?" he called, hearing nothing but his own voice echo back at him. "Hello?"_

"_Hello, Telemachus," came a soft reply from behind him_

_He turned and saw a blonde Nietzschean female wearing a dark blue jumpsuit with the insignia of one of Terazed's orbital defense stations over her left breast. "Nefatari?" Telemachus reached out a hand hesitantly. "What's going on?"_

"_A crossing," came the soft answer. "I have caused both your world and mine to mix together for a short time."_

_He looked at her. "Is this real, or a dream?" he asked, almost too scared to know the answer._

_Nefatari smiled. "It is no dream, yet neither is it reality." She reached out and gently brushed her fingers over his face. "I miss you so very much, Telemachus, as do all the children. They wanted to come see you, but could not make the journey." She grasped his shoulders in a strong grip. "We don't blame you for what happened to us, Telemachus. Know that, and move on. Don't forget us, but you must keep living your life without us."_

_He blinked to keep the tears from falling. "I can't ever love anyone again. The guilt-"_

"_You must!" Nefatari announced. "For me, for all the children. Let go."_

"_I can't." His voice grew raspy. "I won't."_

"_No!" Nefatari threw herself into his arms, crying. "You have to! I cannot bear knowing your future will crumble away because of me!" She raised her face, tears streaming down. "You are denying yourself love because of me! You can love another!" She buried her face in his shirt, soaking it with tears. "Don't ruin your life because of me."_

_He held her as she sobbed until she had no more tears to cry. "Please, Telemachus, for me." She lifted her face to his own and kissed him with an animal passion fueled by need and desire._

_Then she began to fade away. "Nefatari, no!" he yelled, grasping in vain as she became as insubstantial as mist._

_Nefatari smiled sadly. "Move on, Telemachus. I'll still be here. Farewell." And she was gone._

_"Nefatari!" he yelled, and woke with a start._

The lighting in the hallway outside was dimmed; it was the middle of the sleep cycle. For the first time, Telemachus did not feel a hollow ache when he thought of his first and only wife, Nefatari Kayleen, out of Majoram by Rhade. Logic told him that what had transpired was a dream, nothing more. His heart told him that he had indeed been with Nefatari. Maybe this was all just a trick of his DNA, trying to reestablish in him the basic need of all Nietzscheans- to have a wife, to have children, to have grandchildren. He didn't know, and honestly, it didn't matter.

"Beka," he whispered. He had forsaken her, abandoned her, left her alone. Why? He felt such a profound regret, such as it could not be described in Common. Along with, and almost overpowering the regret was a profound feeling of... something that could not be described no matter how hard he tried. He could feel it in his heart. Telemachus missed Beka, and sadly realized she was light-years away.

Now that he was fully awake, Telemachus could hear the soft hum of the _Shadow_ going through Slipstream. Apparently Boa had repaired the Slip drive, and they were on their way back to the _Andromeda_. He wondered what Beka was doing now.

A/N: I think this is my favorite chapter so far, with the exception of Chap42, which isn't uploaded yet.

Preview of Chap41: A joyful reunion is brutally cut short by a horrible disaster.


	41. Of Reunion and Disaster

Chapter 41

"Something is coming." Gaheris looked at Trance as she made this grim announcement. The three had stopped to say good-bye to Apollo. "I don't know what it is, or what form it will take, but I can tell you this: it will be very, very bad."

Gaheris put his arm around her shoulders. "we'll deal with it when it comes," he said.

"And met it head-on!" Veghn finished, grinning up at his father.

"Nietzscheans!" Trance exclaimed in mock frustration as she tousled Veghn's hair.

"Will you come with us, Apollo?" Veghn asked, brown eyes wife and earnest.

Apollo smiled sadly. I wish I could, Veghn, but I have duties here. Your place is on the _Andromeda_, mine is here."

Veghn's lower lip trembled. "Okay." He wrapped his arms around the green male's waist.

"Apollo, I need a favor," Trance said, pulling him into a corner and speaking softly.

"Pick me up!" Veghn requested, throwing himself onto his father.

Gaheris lifted him onto his shoulders, and Veghn clapped his hands over the older Nietzschean's eyes, laughing. The child seemed to have come through the Trial no worse for the wear, but Trance appeared, if anything, to have aged a year or so. When Gaheris had pointed this out to her, she had just smiled and told him that she'd be fine in a few days, she just needed time to reassert herself with her sun. He pulled Veghn off his shoulders and hung the child upside-down by his ankles, the boy laughing wildly.

Trance and Apollo walked back over. "We're going to teleport back to the _Andromeda_," she announced.

Startled, Gaheris let go of Veghn, quickly catching him before he hit the ground.

Veghn giggled, sure the whole thing had been planned as Gaheris set him down gently on the floor.

"How are we going to teleport?" Gaheris asked, raising an eyebrow.

Trance looked at him, and with a flash of gold light, disappeared.

Gaheris jumped back as Veghn did the same thing, except with a flash of silver. "How'd they do that?" he muttered.

Apollo grinned. "Your turn."

"No, that's okay, I'll take a-" Gaheris disappeared with a white flash, and the last thing he saw was Apollo grinning and waving.

Gaheris landed on _Andromeda's_ Command Deck to see Beka, Dylan, Rommie, and Harper staring at him. "Don't ask me," he announced, breathing heavily. "I didn't do it!"

"Trance, you're alive!" Harper went to hug her. "You're not radioactive or anything, are you?"

"No," she replied smiling, as Harper hugged her.

Veghn rushed over to stand in front of Harper... and whacked him in the face with his tail.

"Some things never change," Gaheris said as Harper tried to grab the tail and ended up getting hit again.

After everyone had heard what had happened, Gaheris voiced a quiet thought. "Where's Telemachus?"

"Are we there yet?" Telemachus leaned over Nemay's shoulder, unknowingly mimicking what Gaheris had said.

"Does it look like we're there yet?" Boa countered.

"Transition from Slipstream in five, four, three, two... transition," Nemay said, and the _Shadow_ jumped out of Slipstream... right on top of the _Andromeda_!

"Shit, not cool!" Nemay yelled, pulling up on the controls, barely skimming _Andromeda's_ hull as proximity warning sirens went off. "You weren't supposed to give me the_ exact_ coordinates, Rhade!"

"Sorry," came the unapologetic reply.

"This is the starship _Shadowdancer_, under the control of Captain Nemay Flachar, out of Ursa by Flachar, hailing _Andromeda Ascendant_." He grinned up at Rhade. "I love saying 'Captain Nemay'. It makes me feel like that guy from that old Earth novel, Nemoy, Nemo, Neo, Nala... whatever."

"Who the hell are you?" came a female's voice.

"Beka?" Telemachus pushed his way to the comm. "It's me."

"Rhade? Where the _hell_ have you been?"

Telemachus felt a rush of excitement at hearing her voice. "Rescue mission," he replied. "Can we dock?"

"Where's the _Rose_?" a voice demanded.

"What?" came Beka's voice. "Terla, how'd-"

"Where's my _ship_, Rhade?" Terla demanded.

"Uh-" Telemachus started.

"The Dragans destroyed it," Nemay put in quickly. "She was on auto pilot when the Dragans blew her up."

"Oh. Okay. I guess I won't have to kill you yet," Terla responded. "You can have the comm back now, Beka."

"Thanks," came the sarcastic reply. "Docking clearance granted, Rhade."

"I'm okay, really!" Winter sat up. She had woken up shortly before the exit from Slipstream.

"No, you're not," Boa replied, pushing her back down.

"Yes, I am!"

"No, you aren't."

"Yes I am, you blond-haired Nietzschean son of a-"

"Fine!" Boa threw his hands in the air. "But don't come running to me if your condition worsens!"

"Win?" Nuria walked over. "You okay?"

"Don't call me that," Winter replied shortly. "Why does everyone treat me like some fragile ballerina-doll?"

"It was touch-and-go a few times," Nuria told her softly. "We weren't sure if you were going to be alright."

"Well, I did," Winter stood up, grabbing onto Boa's shoulder as a wave of dizziness swept over her. "I wanna walk out onto the _Andromeda_."

"Is she okay?" a female voice asked.

Winter turned to see Xena and let out a choked scream of rage. "Bitch!" she lunged forward and slapped Xena across the face. "What in God's name is _she_ doing here!"

"Yes, I've been wondering that myself," Achilles said slowly, walking to stand next to Winter and Nuria as Boa went to the cockpit. "What's in it for you, handing us over, then almost killing us in a rescue attempt?"

Xena stood with her arms crossed. "The rest of you could rot in hell for all I care. I did it for Jade." She laughed slightly, shaking her head. "Call it respect, loyalty, stupidity- I had to rescue her. You three were an added bonus."

Winter looked like she was going to slap Xena gain, but Nuria and Achilles understood. "Good enough," Nuria said as there was as light jolt as Nemay set them down in _Andromeda's_ hanger.

Winter looked around. "Where the hell am I?"

In as few words as possible, the three Nietzscheans explained what had happened to the Inari.

Boa walked back in. "Sorry to interrupt-"

"No, you're not, " Nemay replied, walking in after, grinning.

"Okay, I'm not," Boa matched his brother's grin. "But if you want your fifteen seconds of meeting the heroes of the Commonwealth, this is your chance. The Rhades already left."

Telemachus and Jade walked down the _Shadow's_ ramp. Jade had her arm around her brother's shoulder, and Telemachus had trimmed his beard down to a goatee, and cut his hair until it was a short as before, except he had spiked it; not the Harper spike, but rather like when he had been Terazed's admiral.

Dylan, Beka, Rommie, Harper, Trance, Gaheris, and Veghn were waiting at the airlock entrance. Telemachus saluted Dylan, and meaningless pleasantries were exchanged.

Jade smiled sweetly and politely, but stayed within her older brother's shadow. She shook hands with Rommie, who then introduced her to the rest of the senior officers.

"Seamus _Zelazney_ Harper, at your service." Harper bowed over her hand and kissed the back. Jade bit her lip to keep from laughing.

Before long, everyone from the _Andromeda_ and the _Shadowdancer_ were mingled together, and Telemachus could finally speak with Beka. "Do you have a moment?"

Beka nodded and moved over to the side to put some distance between them and the rest of the people. "What is it, Rhade?"

"Beka, I..." he hesitated. "I wanted to-"

"All officers report to Command immediately," Andromeda announced.

Rommie had a look of apprehension and pure fear on her face. "Oh my God," she breathed. "Now, go!"

"All crew, report to battle stations," Andromeda's voice echoed through the corridors. "This is not a drill. All crew, report..."

"What the hell is going on?" Winter demanded of Harper as they ran at a dead run for Command.

"The Magog have snet some kind of advance ship!" Rommie yelled over t he chaos.

"Terazed is under attack."

A/N: One chapter remaining, ladies and gentlemen! Oh, no!

_Preview of Chap42: all I can really say for this chapter is... **BOOM!**_


	42. Destruction

A/N: **yes, ladies and gentlemen! Echoes has an end!**

**L.C. Brotherton:** well, I hope there's enough BOOM in this chapter for you!

**prin69:** lol! I love Terla! that's why she keeps coming back... for now...

**Jamieson Z: **hehehe... BOOM!

**Iara:** next chapter? okay, since you command!

**Vee017:** yes! Boba FettStar Wars! Mike and Nick (And me!) are big Star Wars fans. Since I wouldn't let Mike's character be Boba Fett, he just took the extra 'b' out of it!

**Maglenan Songbird:** make them stop? whatever for:P

**eris:** :ducks thrown apples: AH! lol!

Chapter 42- Destruction

"We're too late," Veghn whispered as Beka feverishly piloted through the 'Stream.

The lighting had turned a subtle blue. "All crew are in position, all battle stations manned," Rommie said. Her reports of readiness faded into the background as Telemachus clenched the sides of his console, trying to make Andromeda go faster.

His homeworld was under attack by the Magog! This was the very reason he had campaigned against the restored Commonwealth two years ago!

"Everyone is at battle stations but us," Xena said in a low tone.

Rommie didn't turn to look at the pilots. "You are not part of my crew, nor the Commonwealth: therefore you are not under my authority."

"Well consider us under your command!" Jade announced. "Terazed, my home, is under attack! I can't stand around and do nothing!"

"There are three available slipfighters," Rommie replied.

"Will the Magog board us?" Boa asked, biting his lower lip.

"Most likely," Harper answered. "Scared, kid?"

"Beyond all belief," Boa said. "I'd like to stay aboard and fight them here, Nemay."

"I need you on the Shadow," Nemay protested.

"Nuria, Achilles, Winter: take the slipfighters," Jade ordered. "I'll go on the Shadow with Nemay."

"But-" Winter started.

"No 'buts'! Am I, or am I not still your leader?" Jade demanded. "Go, go!"

Nuria, Achilles, and Winter ran for the slipfighter bay, and Jade and Nemay dashed for Hanger Bay 2. If Jade had looked, she would have seen admiration and pride shining in her brother's eyes. If Telemachus had looked, he would have seen the same admiration reflected in Nemay's eyes.

**XXX**

"Take us out of Slipstream in the outer system," Trance said softly. "Nearer to the outermost planet."

"But Terazed is the fourth rock from the sun," Telemachus protested.

Trance looked at him evenly. "Exactly."

**XXX**

"I have a bad feeling about this," Winter said over the comm system in her borrowed fighter.

"You and me both, Storm," Achilles said. "You and me both."

"The last fight of Exile Squadron," Nuria said quietly. "The odds are against all of us surviving the coming battle."

**XXX**

A feeling of unease grew in Veghn as he stood next to his mother. He pulled on her sleeve. "Mommy, what's going to happen to us?"

Trance shook her head slowly. "I don't know," she said softly. "But if anything happens, stay with your father at all times."

"I don't wanna lose you," Veghn whispered, and he laid his head against her hip.

**XXX**

"Rommie didn't want to go up against the Magog again. Neither did Harper. The two exchanged nervous glances, expressing their mutual fear.

"It'll be okay, Rom-doll," Harper mouthed.

Rommie shook her head uncertainly.

**XXX**

"Boa," Nemay grasped his younger brother's forearm. "If everything gets shot to hell, tell our mother I love her."

Boa nodded. He and Xena stood outside the ramp of the Shadowdancer. Jade had all ready gone ahead and was powering up the ship.

None of them wanted to say good-bye, knowing that it may be the last time they saw each other.

Nemay drew his pistol and tipped it to his forehead in salute. He pulled free one of the cartridges and tossed it to Boa. "You might need this," he said, grinning sadly.

Boa caught it and looked it over, then slipped it into his pocket. "Good luck, big bro."

**XXX**

Xena checked the charge on her pistol and holstered it. She pulled a cross-brace of shurikens over her chest and put on her soft, silent leather boots. Xena hefted her huge Gauss gun that was the length of her outstretched arm and powered it up.

She and Boa took their positions with one of the Lancer squads.

"We're going to die," a young Than whispered, adjusting his helmet.

**XXX**

Terla stayed in her quarters, tongue between her teeth. She was preparing components for spells: Melf's Acid Arrow, Fireball, Summon Animal, etc.

"Andromeda, I need snakeskin," she murmured.

"What for?"

"It's the necessary component for this spell."

"Well, I don't carry snakeskin," Andromeda replied snottily. "I'm a warship, not a medicine shoppe."

"Damn!" Terla smacked a fist off the table and began to work on another spell.

**XXX**

Dylan was at his post on the bridge. He had been preparing for this for nearly four years, it seemed almost unreal that the first wave had finally come. Why Terazed of all places? It was the most defended planet in the entire Commonwealth. It would be impossible to destroy it... right?

**XXX**

Gaheris was watching his son. With a sudden regret, he realized that he would never fully know Veghn the way Trance did.

The Magog were coming. Gaheris had a feeling that nothing would ever be the same after this.

**XXX**

Jade sat in the cockpit of the Shadowdancer. After some arguing, Jade had persuaded Nemay to let her pilot. He had been reluctant until Jade had appealed to one of every Nietzschean's favorite things to do: blow stuff up.

Nemay slid into the copilot's chair.

"Are you scared at all?" Jade asked.

"Of the Magog? Who wouldn't be?"

Jade shrugged. "I just didn't think the first battle would be at Terazed."

**XXX**

Beka used every trick she knew, (and a few she made up) to try to get them to Terazed faster. She always hated to make this Slip jump because it was so difficult, but it seemed even worse than usual for some reason. "Ladies and gentlemen, we will be transiting from Slipstream in five, four, three-"

Andromeda whined and jumped out two seconds early, throwing the crew forward. "There's something wrong," Rommie announced. "I'm reading an asteroid field..." she paused. "Oh my God."

The visual came on the screen, along with a layout of the entire system. The visual showed wreckage from orbital stations and ships... and jagged rocks everywhere. The layout showed no ships, no stations, no moons, no planets, no nothing except the yellow dwarf and a huge blip in red on the viewscreen.

Andromeda panned her sensors slowly through the debris field. A freeze-dried corpse drifted past the projector, face burned beyond recognition.

"I'm sorry, Rhade," Rommie said softly. "Preliminary scans indicate... no survivors.

"Terazed has been destroyed."

**The End**

To Be Continued...

A/N: Wow. It actually had an end! There will be a sequel, 'Fallen Angel'. I still can't believe I actually finished this fic, and I'd like to thank: **eris, L.C. Brotherton, Vee017, Maglenan Songbird, Iara, prin69, Jamieson Z, Dancing Princess, Dancing Queen, Dancer of Dreams, sticks-and-stones123, Mo Cat, vampiregirl081, Anastashia, starra, abcde, Christieanne-Anna, Oenone, Miikka, randomidiot, and midknight-kat01.** Thanks for all your reviews! You guys are my inspiration always!

I wanna give a big thank you to my beta readers: **Sam, Samantha, Casey, and Colleen.** Without you guys I would never have written this good!

Thanks to my designer, **Nick Morrison**. I would never have been able to come up with the Maj-91 by myself!**  
**

Big thanks to everyone who gave me an o/c to work with: **Iara, Oenone, Nick, Sam, Casey, Samantha, Colleen, and Mike.**

**IF I FORGOT ANYONE, PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!**

* * *

_Preview of 'Fallen Angel'_

_The Worldship drifted nearer and nearer to the motionless, disabled Andromeda. Dylan struggled to stand up. "This can't be the end... I won't let them-" He fell to the floor with a pained cry..._

**XXX**

_A huge dark thing with wings swooped down the corridor at the approaching Magog, and was hit by laser blasts. It gave an inhuman scream and collapsed, wings smoking as it morphed into a gray humanoid wearing purple robes. Terla jittered uncontrollably before finally subsiding..._

**XXX**

_"Something, something, something's," Rommie's voice changed inflections and tones. "Wr-r-rong..." she collapsed to the floor, and the entire ship shut down with a whir._

_"Rommie!"..._

**XXX**

_"Jade, you can't let them do this! It's crazy!"_

_"Crazy?" She laughed hysterically. "You have no idea, Nemay! They'll take you apart, and put you back together! You'll wish you were dead!" She laughed again, thenpaused suddenly. "They're coming for me..."_

**XXX**

_Xena lay on the ground before him, blood pouring out of her mouth and frothing._

_"What did they do to you?" Boa shuddered uncontrollably, tears running down his face. "Xena, don't die," he sobbed. "Don't..."_

**XXX**

_"Achilles!" Nuria's face was lit by the ensuing explosion._

_"Oh my God!" Winter screamed, spinning uncontrollably._

**XXX**

_"Beka!" Telemachus screamed hoarsely as she collapsed, hit by the Magog laser blasts..._

**XXX**

_Trance's chest heaved in dry sobs as she tried to pull her husband's body out from under the wreckage. "Gaheris, no!" Tears ran down her face. "This isn't how it's meant to be!"..._

**XXX**

_Harper was hyperventilating. "Why here?" he pleaded. "Why now..."_

**XXX**

_Veghn blinked. "This is the end of everything we know," he whispered. "Nothing will ever be the same again..."_


End file.
